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Men With Breast Cancer Have Same Disease-Specific and Event-Free Survival as Women

  • Breast Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Breast carcinoma in men is an uncommon disease. The aim of this study is to compare overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) in a group of matched men and women with breast cancer.

Methods

Each man with breast cancer recorded in the database was matched with two women. Matching was done based on age, year of diagnosis, and stage. To compare breast cancer characteristics between men and women, the chi-square test was used for qualitative data and the t-test for quantitative data. Overall survival and DSS were calculated using Kaplan-Meier methods. Cox proportional hazards models have been used to compare survival rates between men and women.

Results

The 58 male breast cancer patients were matched with 116 female patients. The mean age at diagnosis was 63.9 ± 11.9 years for men and 65.7 ± 11.5 years for women (P = .72). The median follow-up was 9.7 years for men and 10.7 years for women. The 5- and 10-year OS for men were, respectively, 58.9% and 33.9%. The 5- and 10-year OS for women were 68.2% and 52.1%. Men with breast cancer had a significant risk of dying compared with women (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.59; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.04–2.42, P = .03). The 5- and 10-year DSS were 73.0% and 55.1% for men, and 72.8 and 61.2% for women, respectively. There was no difference in DSS between the two matched groups (HR = 1.26; 95% CI, 0.76–2.10, P = .37).

Conclusions

The prognosis for men with breast carcinoma is similar to that for women with similar-stage disease.

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Acknowledgments

Data were available thanks to the hospital-based cancer registry of Alexis Vautrin Center. We are grateful to Chantal Husson, Annette Walter, Sylvie Villa, Rosie Garcia-Gonzalez, Sophie Grandjean, and Marie-Claire Martin for technical assistance. We also thank Lina Bolotine for her assistance in writing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, CRAN, Nancy-Université, CNRS, Centre Alexis Vautrin, Avenue de Bourgogne, 54511, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France

    Frédéric Marchal PhD, MD, Magalie Salou MD & Anne Lesur MD

  2. Department of Radiotherapy, Nancy-Université, Centre Alexis Vautrin, Regional Cancer Center, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France

    Christian Marchal MD

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Nancy-Université, Centre Alexis Vautrin, Regional Cancer Center, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France

    Emmanuel Desandes MD

Authors
  1. Frédéric Marchal PhD, MD
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  2. Magalie Salou MD
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  3. Christian Marchal MD
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  4. Anne Lesur MD
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  5. Emmanuel Desandes MD
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Correspondence to Frédéric Marchal PhD, MD.

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Marchal, F., Salou, M., Marchal, C. et al. Men With Breast Cancer Have Same Disease-Specific and Event-Free Survival as Women. Ann Surg Oncol 16, 972–978 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-009-0327-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-009-0327-6

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