Papillary Carcinoma of Male Breast: The Uncommon Pathology of Breast Cancer

Abstract

Aims Male breast cancers constitute less than 1% of all the breast cancers. Papillary carcinoma is a very rare tumour of the male breast accounting for between 5 and 7.5% in men versus 0.5 and 2.4% in women. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinico-pathological features and the treatments of papillary carcinoma of the breast in male. Method We retrospectively reviewed in this study eleven cases of papillary carcinoma of the male breast treated between 1994 and 2011 at Salah Azaiez institute. Results The median age at diagnostic was 65 years. The median tumor size was 45 mm. Ten patients underwent total mastectomy and one has a simple mastectomy because he was initially metastatic (lungs). Only two patients had positive lymph nodes. Hormonal receptors were positive in five cases. Four patients were lost of sight during chemotherapy. Five patients completed adjuvant treatment involving local radiation and chemotherapy. Five had hormonal therapy. One patient had a synchrone adenosquamous carcinoma of the papilla of Vater and hepatocellular carcinoma. He was lost of sight after the abdominal surgery. For the six remaining patients, they had a median follow up of 64 months (range 24 to 150). One developed regional recurrence, three developed metastases and one had adenocarcinoma of the stomach five years after the first cancer. Conclusion Papillary carcinomas have an indolent clinical course. The mainstay of treatment in these carcinomas is surgical excision. Furthermore, novel gene panels may serve as a potential decision tool in this rare entity especially in male population.