P0160 Clinicopathologic characteristics of male breast cancer: A report of 21 cases at a radiotherapy centre in hamadan, Iran

Background Male breast cancer accounts for less than 1% of all cancer in men and only around 1% of all diagnosed breast cancer. Despite a significant increase in the last 25 years, it still remains a rare disease. Methods We conducted a retrospective study from 2004–2011 with 21 male breast cancer patients. We aimed to analyse epidemiological data (age, personal and family history), tumour characteristics (size, histological type, location, TNM stage, receptors), surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy, hormonal therapy and survival (relapse, follow up, death) of men who were referred to our centre with breast cancer. Findings The median age was 49.2 ± 14.2 years (range 30–83 years). A family history of breast cancer was noted in four cases. The main clinical complaint was a retroareolar mass in 18 (85.7%) patients. Histologically, 18 (85.7%) were invasive ductal carcinoma, one (4.7%) had ductal carcinoma in situ, and two (9.4%) had mixed histology including invasive medullary and ductal carcinoma. Hormonal therapy was delivered to 16 (76.1%) cases due to ER or PR positivity. During median follow up of 30 months (3–84 months), distant metastases were evident in four (19%) cases. During the follow-up period, only one patient died due to metastatic disease. The mean time to recurrence was 30 months. Interpretation The occurrence of male breast cancer is very low compared with breast cancer in women, explaining why very few investigations have been conducted in Iran. Limited coverage in the literature make gender-specific findings difficult so future research of this entity involving multi-institutional cooperation and longer follow-up is essential to provide new insights about the biological and clinical factors of this rare cancer.