Histologic types and hormone receptors in breast cancer in men: a population-based study in 282 United States men

Histologic slides from 282 incident cases of breast cancer in men, that were identified in 10 population-based cancer registries in the United States, were reviewed by a single pathologist. Breast cancer more often presented in the noninvasive stage in men (10.8 percent of all cases) than would be expected among women. All noninvasive carcinomas were of the ductal type. Of invasive carcinomas, compared with women, men had smaller proportions of lobular and mucinous types and larger proportions of ductal and papillary types and Paget's disease. No case of tubular or medullary carcinoma was seen. The breast in men is composed only of ducts and normally contains no lobules, and the histologic types of breast carcinomas that predominate in men are likely of ductal origin. Estrogen and progesterone receptors were present in 86.7 percent and 76.3 percent of invasive carcinomas, respectively, which are higher proportions than would be expected among women. Also, unlike findings in women, receptor content was not associated with patient age at diagnosis.Dr Stalsberg is with the Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway, and Drs Thomas, Rosenblatt, Jimenez, and McTiernan are with the Program in Epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA, Authors also are affiliated with the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA (Dr Rosenblatt); the Institutio Regional de Investigacion en Salud Publica, Guadalajara, Mexico (Dr Jimenez); the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA (Dr McTiernan); the Pharmaceutical Division, CIBAGEIGY Corp., Summit, NJ, USA (Dr Stembagen); the University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, USA (Dr Thompson); the Connecticut Cancer Epidemiology Unit, New Haven, CT, USA (Dr McCrea Curnen); the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA (Dr Satariano); the Resource for Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Health Services, Emeryville, CA, USA (Dr Austin); the School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA (Dr Greenberg); the New Mexico Tumor Registry, Albuquerque, NM, USA (Dr Key); the Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA (Dr Kolonel); the Northern California Cancer Center, Alameda, CA, USA (Dr West). Address correspondence to Dr Stalsberg, Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway. This study was funded by grant number RO1 CA35653 from the US National Cancer Institute.