Male breast cancer: a review

Male breast cancer (MBC) is considered as a rare disease comprising about 1% of all breast cancers. As compared to women breast cancer, MBC has some similarities and also some particularities related to age, comorbidities, breast volume, diagnostic delay, prognosis and survival. Modified radical mastectomy (MRM) with axillary dissection is the gold standard. Sentinel lymph node dissection is a promising option for early stages. Adjuvant radiation is proposed because of the high frequency of node involvement and central tumor location. In hormone receptor positive tumors tamoxifen remains the gold standard endocrine therapy because of the lack of data on aromatase inhibitors. Adjuvant chemotherapy can be proposed to high-risk patients while trastuzumab should be an option in breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. In the setting of considerable evolution in the management of women breast cancer, this review aimed to point out on the similarities and particularities of MBC and the future challenges to improve MBC outcome.