title: Breast cancer in males.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Male breast cancer has a very low incidence (<1%). It has traditionally been considered to have a poorer prognosis than breast cancer in females due to delayed diagnosis as a cause of decreased survival. Our goal is to analyze our series and to identify factors influencing survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective study from 1997-2008 (n = 32). Inclusion criteria were male gender and histological confirmation of breast cancer. We analyzed epidemiological data (age and personal and family history), tumors (size, grade of differentiation, histological type, location, TNM stage, receptors), therapeutic regimen (surgical technique, adjuvant therapy) and survival (relapse, followup, death).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Male breast cancer represents 0.9% of all breast cancers treated in our center. The average age of our patients was 66.84 years. Only 9.3% demonstrated gynecomastia as a presenting complaint. Histologically, 90% were infiltrating ductal type; 59.25% were diagnosed in early stages (I-II) compared to 40.74% in stages III-IV. Aggressive surgical techniques are still performed, compared to conservative techniques (74.19% vs. 19.36%). With a median follow-up of 52.82 months, the mortality rate was 16%. Existence of distant metastasis has been the only statistically significant factor in survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The percentage of cases of male breast cancer is very low compared to breast cancer in females. Limited studies in the literature make gender-specific findings difficult. A low percentage of conservative surgical procedures are performed, even though this has increased considerably in recent years. The existence of distant metastasis was the main determinant of survival.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Patología Mamaria, Servicio de Cirugía General y del Aparato Digestivo, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla, España. ltallona@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tallón-Aguilar
authors.forename: Isabelo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Serrano-Borrero
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Porras
authors.forename: José María
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sousa-Vaquero
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de León-Carrillo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018567:Breast Neoplasms, Male / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate