Male breast cancer: a budding and unaddressed issue

Abstract

Incidence of male breast carcinoma (MBC), although rare, recently has an increasing trend. The increase in incidence is associated with increasing age, and poor clinical outcome seen with MBC is mostly because of illiteracy and lack of health education and shyness in reporting to the clinical physician. In this context, a comprehensive review regarding this forth bursting clinical scenario is important. The present article focus on that aspect encompassing but not limited to different clinical studies. The randomized trials on MBC are sparse and most of the studies are retrospective in nature due to rarity of cases. MBC treatment line is derived from female breast cancer guidelines. MBC has a poorer prognosis than female breast cancer. MBC patients in India present in advanced stage and surgery remains challenging due to paucity of breast tissue. Post mastectomy radiation is indicated on the same lines as of female breast cancer and it decreases locoregional recurrence. Adjuvant hormonal therapy decreases recurrence and improves survival. Further clinical trials are required including large number of patients to study different parameters in respect of prognosis and survival.

Male Breast Cancer: Current Scenario and Future Perspectives

“…Despite, a major confounding factor that hampers a vigorous and reproducible tool involving bioinformatic analysis is that the diverse types of cells which are not only limited to the cancerous cells but also to the tumor microenvironmental cells those are adjacent to the normal cells could also present in biopsy of any tumor. 117 …”

“…Owing limited information available regarding the treatment options for men diagnosed with MBC, currently the treatment strategies for MBC are mostly based on the FBC guidelines. 117 , 120 Even though the disease characteristics are similar to FBC, with the understanding of the distinct clinical features, treatment strategies for MBC require a specific clinical approach. 121 Therefore, in the recent years involving men in BC clinical trials are growing.…”

“…The same chemotherapeutic agents and regimens that are being used to treat FBC could be used for metastatic MBC treatment. 92 , 113 , 117 , 148 …”