Male Breast Cancer

Although breast cancer is an uncommon malignancy in men, it has been recognized since antiquity. The earliest mention of breast cancer appears in the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus dating from 3000 to 2500 BC and refers to a man. The first clinical description is attributed to the 14th-century English surgeon John of Aderne who warned a priest with a large breast mass that treatment by a barber "would bring him to death." The subsequent scattered case reports were compiled by Williams in the late 19th century but an exhaustive and detailed review of the basic characteristics of the disease did not appear until 1927. Knowledge of many of the relevant aspects of the disease and appropriate therapy remains limited. Large series of male breast cancer are rare, retrospective, and cover extended time periods, generally at single institutions, during which methods of diagnosis, staging, and treatment may have changed dramatically. Prospective, randomized trials are not available. Treatment for men has therefore been based on the known biology of male breast cancer and the knowledge gained from controlled clinical studies performed in women.