Abstract
Background
Breast cancer has received much less investigative attention in Asian men than in Caucasian men. We examined whether the prognosis of Japanese men with breast cancer differs from that of Japanese women with the disease.
Methods
The clinicopathological features of 14 Japanese men with breast cancer were reviewed and age- and stage-matched case-control analysis of these men and 140 female patients was performed.
Results
Disease-free survival (p = 0.94) and overall survival (p = 0.62) did not differ significantly between the sexes. Five-year disease-free survival was 77% for the men and 75% for the women, and the 5-year overall survival was 92% for the men and 86% for the women. The disease recurred in 2 men but none died of breast cancer, although 3 died of other causes during the median follow-up period of 7 years. There were no significant differences in p53 mutation (p = 0.20) or erbB-2 oncoprotein overexpression (p = 0.33) between the men and women studied.
Conclusion
Survival rates of Japanese male and female breast cancer patients are similar when age and stage of the disease are taken into consideration. However, comorbid disease mortality is likely the major contributor to clinical outcome in Japanese male breast cancer patients.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- SEER:
-
Program Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program
- TNM:
-
Tumor-node-metastasis classification system of the International Union Against Cancer
- ER:
-
Estrogen receptor
- BMI:
-
Body mass index
References
Sasco AJ, Lowenfels AB, Pasker-de Jong P: Review article: epidemiology of male breast cancer. A meta-analysis of published case-control studies and discussion of selected aetiological factors.Int J Cancer 53:538–549, 1993.
Ribeiro GG: Carcinoma of the male breast: a review of 200 cases.Br J Surg 64:381–383, 1977.
Heller KS, Rosen PP, Schottenfeld D, Ashikari R, Kinne DW: Male breast cancer: a clinicopathologic study of 97 cases.Ann Surg 188:60–65, 1978.
Norris HJ, Taylor HB: Carcinoma of the male breast.Cancer 23:1428–1435, 1969.
Goss PE, Reid C, Pintilie M, Lim R, Miller N: Male breast carcinoma: a review of 229 patients who presented to the Princess Margaret Hospital during 40 years: 1955–1996.Cancer 85:629–639, 1999.
Cutuli B, Lacroze M, Dilhuydy JM, Veiten M, De Lafontan B, Marchai C, Resbeut M, Graic Y, Campana F, Moncho-Bernier V, De Gislain C, Tortochaux J, Cuillere JC, Reme-Saumon M, N’Guyen TD, Lesaunier F, Le Simple T, Gamelin E, Hery M, Berlie J: Male breast cancer: results of the treatments and prognostic factors in 397 cases.Eur J Cancer 31A:1960–1964, 1995.
Donegan WL, Redlich PN, Lang PJ, Gall MT: Carcinoma of the breast in males: a multiinstitutional survey.Cancer 83:498–509, 1998.
Brenner B, Fried G, Levitzki P, Rakowsky E, Lune H, Idelevich E, Neuman A, Kaufman B, Sulkes J, Sulkes A: Male breast carcinoma in Israel: higher incidence but possibly better prognosis in Ashkenazi Jews.Cancer 94:2128–2133, 2002.
O’Malley CD, Prehn AW, Shema SJ, Glaser SL: Racial/ ethnic differences in survival rates in a population-based series of men with breast carcinoma.Cancer 94:2836–2843, 2002.
Hsu JL, Glaser SL, West DW: Racial/ethnic differences in breast cancer survival among San Francisco Bay Area women.J Natl Cancer Inst 89:1311–1312, 1997.
Kelsey JL, Horn-Ross PL: Breast cancer: magnitude of the problem and descriptive epidemiology.Epidemiol Rev 15:7–16, 1993.
Wingo PA, Ries LA, Parker SL, Heath CW Jr: Long-term cancer patient survival in the United States.Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 7:271–282, 1998.
Newman LA, Mason J, Cote D, Vin Y, Carolin K, Bouwman D, Colditz GA: African-American ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and breast cancer survival: a meta-analysis of 14 studies involving over 10, 000 African-American and 40,000 white American patients with carcinoma of the breast.Cancer 94:2844–2854, 2002.
Anan K, Mitsuyama S, Tamae K, Suehara N, Nishi-hara K, Ogawa Y, Iwashita T, Abe Y, Ihara T, Naka-hara S, Katsumoto F, Toyoshima S: Postoperative follow-up of patients with early breast cancer: reappraisal of serum tumor markers.Surg Today 32:13–18, 2002.
Sobin LH, Wittekind Ch eds, Union Internationale Contre le Cancer. TNM classification of malignant tumors, 5th ed, Wiley-Liss, New York, pp123–130, 1997.
Ribeiro G: Male breast carcinoma — a review of 301 cases from the Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, Manchester.Br J Cancer 51:115–119, 1985.
Adami HO, Hakulinen T, Ewertz M, Tretli S, Holm-berg L, Karjalainen S: The survival patterns in male breast cancer. An analysis of 1429 patients from the Nordic countries.Cancer 64:1177–1182, 1989.
Matsuda M, Iwase T, Yoshimoto Y, Kasumi F, Akiyama F, Sakamoto G: Male breast cancer. Clinicopathological features and time trends.J Jpn Surg Assoc 58:513–518, 1997 (in Japanese with English abstract).
Masuda T, Jin M, Kitajima S, Horaguchi A, Takahashi M, Matsumoto J, Shioya A, Kubozono Y, Kikuchi Y, Noto N: A report of 13 cases of male breast cancer.J Jpn Surg Assoc 45:597–603, 1984 (in Japanese).
Moolgavkar SH, Lee JA, Hade RD: Comparison of age-specific mortality from breast cancer in males in the United States and Japan.J Natl Cancer Inst 60:1223–1225, 1978.
Neuhausen SL: Ethnic differences in cancer risk resulting from genetic variation.Cancer 86:2575–2582, 1999.
Fukutomi T, Ushijima T, Inoue R, Akashi-Tanaka S, Nanasawa T, Tsuda H: BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutations in Japanese with hereditary breast cancer families.Breast Cancer 25:256–258, 1997.
Easton DF, Steele L, Fields P, Ormiston W, Averill D, Daly PA, McManus R, Neuhausen SL, Ford D, Wooster R, Cannon-Albright LA, Stratton MR, Goldgar DE: Cancer risks in two large breast cancer families linked to BRCA2 on chromosome 13ql2-13.Am J Hum Genet 61:120–128, 1997.
Ribeiro G, Swindell R: Adjuvant tamoxifen for male breast cancer (MBC).Br J Cancer 65:252–254, 1992.
Giordano SH, Valero V, Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi GN: Efficacy of anastrozole in male breast cancer.Am J Clin Oncol 25:235–237, 2002.
Patel HZ 2nd, Buzdar AU, Hortobagyi GN: Role of adjuvant chemotherapy in male breast cancer.Cancer 64:1583–1585, 1989.
Borgen PI, Senie RT, McKinnon WM, Rosen PP: Carcinoma of the male breast: analysis of prognosis compared with matched female patients.Ann Surg Oncol 4:385–388, 1997.
Pich A, Margaria E, Chiusa L: Oncogenes and male breast carcinoma: c-erbB-2 and p53 coexpression predicts a poor survival.J Clin Oncol 18:2948–2956, 2000.
Clark JL, Nguyen PL, Jaszcz WB, Jatoi A, Niehans GA: Prognostic variables in male breast cancer.Am Surg 66:502–511, 2000.