Background and objective: Male breast cancer (MBC) in China usually has been studied retrospectively with small sample size, and studies analyzing the prognostic factors are rare. This study was to investigate the prognostic factors of Chinese patients with MBC based on the data from a single institute with a relatively large sample.
Methods: Clinical data of 72 patients with histopathologically confirmed MBC who received treatment at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 1969 and March 2009, were collected. Kaplan-Meier, log-rank test and Cox regression model were used for statistical analysis.
Results: The 5-year overall survival rate was 72.4%, and the survival rates for stage I, II, III, and IV were 100%, 74.2%, 57.2%, and 0%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that the tumor size (P < 0.001), axillary lymph node status (P = 0.001), TNM stage (P = 0.001), operation model (with vs. without: P < 0.001; classic radical resection vs. modified radical resection, P = 0.336) and endocrine therapy(P = 0.02) significantly influenced the survival. Multivariate Cox regression showed that TNM stage (P = 0.035), operation model (P = 0.021) and endocrine therapy (P = 0.019) were independent prognostic factors for MBC.
Conclusions: Early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment strategy consisting of surgery and endocrine treatment is essential to improve the survival of the patients with MBC, and TNM stage, operation and endocrine treatment are the significant prognostic factors for MBC.