Invasive ductal carcinoma of breast in a 73-year old male: A rare case report and literature review

Introduction and importance: Male breast cancers despite being similar to female breast cancers in various aspects; however, they have important distinctive characteristics such as molecular biology, increased tendency for axillary lymph node metastasis and late age at presentation.

Presentation of case: We present the case of a 73-year old indigenous African male who had a 3-year history of right breast swelling which was associated with episodes of pain and tenderness. The assigned clinical stage for the patient was T2aNoMo. The mass was histologically confirmed to be invasive ductal carcinoma, not specified type (NST) without axillary lymph node involvement or distant metastasis. Immunohistochemistry also showed positive results for ER and PR hormonal receptors but negative for HER2.

Clinical discussion: Considering the rarity nature of male breast cancers, this contributes to lack of evidence of the specific treatment approaches despite the noticeable difference in clinical presentation and even biological characteristics of male breast cancers, which are more likely to contribute to poor prognosis.

Conclusion: The prevalence of male breast cancers has been reported to be less than 1 % of all male cancers. This contributes to the lack of analytical large studies that address the comprehensive data regarding the clinical outcomes of breast cancer among men and their predictors. Therefore, having prospective multicenter studies in future would help in providing high level of evidence on prognosis.