1991 Volume 30 Issue 6 Pages 1103-1108
We experienced a case of male breast cancer and comparied it with 22 female breast cancers in cytology, histology, levels of hormone receptors, and expression of the c-erb B-2 gene product. The male breast cancer was of the invasive papillotubular type with severe atypia and lymph node metastasis, positive for hormone receptors, and negative for c-erb B-2. The 22 papillotubular carcinomas of the females were divided into two groups, with higher atypia (7 cases) and with lower atypia (15 cases). The first group was prone to be negative for hormone receptors and 3 of the cases revealed positive staining of c-erb B-2, Whereas the group with lower atypia was positive for hormone receptors and negative for c-erb B-2. The male breast cancer was different from the female breast cancers in the relation between cell atypism and hormone receptors. Prognosis of male breast cancer could be related not only to cell atypia, but also to hormone receptors and the c-erb B-2 gene product. Therefore in a case such as ours the prognosis may not always be poor.
