title: Male breast cancer: clinical-epidemiological characteristics of 1189 Brazilian patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the clinical-epidemiological features of male patients with breast cancer in Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from male patients with breast cancer treated from 2000 through 2009 were obtained from the Brazilian Hospital Cancer Register databases. Descriptive statistics were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1189 male patients were included. The mean age at diagnosis was 59.6 years (± 13.6). Tumours were categorised as clinical stage I (14.3%), stage II (38.3%), stage III (34.1%) and stage IV (13.3%). The most frequent histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (83.7%). The first course treatment (alone or combined) consisted of chemotherapy in 53.2%, surgery in 49.2, radiation therapy in 36.8 and hormonal therapy in 21.0%; 3.4% of cases did not receive treatment. Treatment modality varies according to the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. The inadequate response rate was 15.9%, and 7.4% of patients died after the first course of treatment. Adequate response according to the first-course cancer treatment, after adjusted for clinical stage, was associated with being Caucasian (odds ratio (OR) = 2.50; 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.35-4.65) and submitted to chemotherapy (OR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.28-0.74).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Male breast cancer diagnosis is often made in the advanced stage. Consequently, patients were subjected to more aggressive treatments, with poorer clinical response.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research and Technology Incorporation Coordination by Instituto Nacional de Câncer José Alencar Gomes da Silva (INCA) , Rio de Janeiro (RJ) , Brazil .
authors.forename: Luiz Claudio Santos
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Thuler
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bergmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D018567:Breast Neoplasms, Male / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011878:Radiotherapy; D012042:Registries; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: Clinical characteristics; male breast cancer; treatment