Postoperative radiotherapy in the treatment of male breast carcinoma: a single institute experience.

Background: To evaluate the outcomes of radiation therapy treatment of male patients with breast cancer in our single institutional cohort and discover possible adverse prognostic factors.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 42 male patients (median age 55; range 33-77 years) with breast cancer. Patients were irradiated postoperatively in 2 Gy/fraction/day to chest wall +/- lymphatics.

Results: Median follow-up was 29 months. Eleven patients had neoadjuvant and 36 patients had adjuvant Adriamycin-based chemotherapy. Nine patients (21%) had local or regional, two (5%) had distant, and one (2.5%) had both local and distant disease at the time of analysis. The actuarial five-year Overall Survival (OS) was 77%, whereas the actuarial five-year Disease-Free (DFS), Locoregional Recurrence-free (LRRFS), and Distant Metastases-Free (DMFS) survival rates were 45%, 69% and 66%, respectively. Univariate analysis of variables, including patient characteristics, treatment modalities and factors, and tumor characteristics, failed to show an association with LRRFS and DFS except percent positive nodal involvement > or = 30% and 50%.

Conclusion: Though radiotherapy seems quite effective in reducing local recurrence, we have revealed that male breast cancer patients in our cohort with extensive nodal involvement (PPNI >30% and 50%) appeared not to have had a significant benefit from postmastectomy irradiation and adjuvant CMF-based chemotherapy.