title: Male breast cancer: 20-year survival data for post-mastectomy radiotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The goal of this population-based study was to determine the impact of post-mastectomy radiation therapy on long-term overall survival (OS) of male patients with breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated 20-year OS rates of 664 patients diagnosed with primary stage I-III breast cancer in former East Germany between 1970 and 1989. Patients had a radical mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection without systemic adjuvant therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median follow-up time was 26.2 years (range 19-38 years). 52.4% of the patients had post-mastectomy radiotherapy. Radiotherapy showed different effects in each stage group after 20 years. Whereas there was an OS trend for radiotherapy to harm patients with stage I disease (hazard ratio (HR) 1.45; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.98-2.15; p = 0.065), radiotherapy showed no benefit in patients with stage II disease (HR 0.82; 95% CI 0.62-1.1; p = 0.15). There was a significant survival benefit for patients with stage III disease receiving radiotherapy (HR 0.60; 95% CI 0.41-0.88; p = 0.008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Post-mastectomy radiotherapy is associated with longer OS in male patients with stage III breast cancer. Male breast cancer patients at stages I and II do not seem to benefit from radiotherapy, but obsolete irradiation techniques might explain adverse long-term effects in earlier stages.
authors.affiliation: University Women's Clinic, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Berlin.
authors.forename: Holm
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Eggemann
authors.forename: Atanas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ignatov
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stabenow
authors.forename: Gunter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: von Minckwitz
authors.forename: Friedrich Wilhelm
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Röhl
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hass
authors.forename: Serban-Dan
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Costa
keywords: Adjuvant Therapy; Adjuvant radiotherapy; Male breast cancer; Overall survival