Introduction. Breast cancer is a rare disease in men and accounts for less than 1% of all male cancers. Male have
a worse prognosis than females with breast cancer.
This paper reports on 81 males with breast cancer who received therapy during 50 years (1960–2010) at the Cancer
Centre in Krakow. The aim was to study the infl uence of some clinical and therapeutic factors on treatment results.
Material and methods. This group of 81 men with breast cancer accounts for only 0.5% of all patients with breast
cancer who were treated at the Cancer Centre in Krakow in this period of time. Patient’s ages were from 34 to 84 years with median value of 63 years. Immediately after diagnosis, the breast cancer in 75 patients (92.6%) was
in a locoregionally stage. The remaining 6 patients (7.4%) developed distant metastases (dissemination stage). The
therapeutic methods consisted of: surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. The 75 patients
with locoregionally advanced breast cancer received radical therapy. Surgery was used in 66/75 patients (88%) and
it was followed by adjuvant therapy. Patients with primary disseminated breast cancer received palliative therapy
which consisted of radiotherapy and systemic therapy. Kaplan-Meier estimations of overall and disease-free survival
were made. Additionally, the analysis of the infl uence of therapeutic and clinical factors was performed for patients
treated with radically intent.
Results. In 75 patients who were radically treated, the estimated 5 and 10 year rates of overall survival were 62.5% and
31.4%. The 5 and 10 year rates of disease-free survival were 48.81% and 34.85%. In patients who received palliative
therapy, the 2 year survival rate was 16.7%. Tumour diameter and histologically positive regional nodes are signifi cant
prognostic factors in radical treatment males. From the therapeutic factors, surgery has signifi cant prognostic value.
The follow-up was from 1 to 294 months with a median value of 59 months. During this period the locoregional
failure developed 16 patients (21.3%) , distant metastases were observed in 27 patients (36%), and a second cancer
was diagnosed in 11 patients (14.7%).
Conclusions. The treatment of males with breast cancer should be based on surgery because the use of this method
signifi cantly improves treatment results in terms of overall and disease-free survival. The results of analysis of 81 males
with breast cancer confi rmed the prognostic value of primary tumour diameter and positive regional lymph nodes.