Male breast cancer: 22 case reports at the National Hospital of Niamey-Niger (West Africa)

BACKGROUND Male breast cancer (MBC) is rare. The objective of the study is to report clinicopathological characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcomes of MBC. METHOD This study, which includes two parts (retrospective and prospective), focused on all hospitalized male patients with breast cancer during 17 years (1992-2008) with histological confirmation. RESULTS The series included 22 patients. The mean age was 52.8 years (range: 28-80 years). MBC represented 5.7% of all breast cancers. Most patients had an advanced disease with skin ulceration and inflammation T3 (31.9%) and T4 (59.1%). The majority of patients came from rural areas (63.6%). The duration of signs ranged from 1 to 7 years. Histology found infiltrating ductal carcinoma in 14 cases (63.6%), sarcoma in 3 cases (13.6%), papillary carcinoma in 2 cases (9%), and lobular carcinoma, medullar carcinoma, and mucinous carcinoma in 4.6% each of the others cases. The treatment had consisted of a radical mastectomy (Halsted or Patey) in 19 cases (86.4%) with axillary clearance and incomplete resection in 3 cases (13.6%). In the retrospective study follow-up of 14 patients, we lost sight of 13 patients 6 months after surgery. In the prospective study of 8 patients 10 to 36 months after mastectomy, 4 patients were deceased (50%), 4 were alive with 1 case having a local recurrence and pulmonary metastasis. CONCLUSION The advanced clinical forms of MBC are most frequent with skin ulceration and nodal enlargement. The absence of radiotherapy and the low access of chemotherapy limited the treatment to radical mastectomy (Halsted) in the majority of cases.