Dr. Borgen on Treatment Strategies for Male Breast Cancer

Patrick Borgen, MD, chair and surgery director of the Breast Cancer Program at Maimonides Medical Center, discusses treatment strategies for patients with male breast cancer.

The biology of breast cancer in male vs female patients has some differences, one being that virtually all male breast cancers are ductal; almost no incidence of lobular disease has been reported in these patients, Borgen says. Additionally, male breast cancers tend to be estrogen receptor (ER)positive and often progesterone receptor positive. This offers the opportunity to utilize several treatment strategies, Borgen explains.

Notably, due to the rarity of male breast cancer, there has never been a clinical trial conducted exclusively for these patients, Borgen adds. As such, investigators have had to extrapolate data from trials that have been conducted in female patients with breast cancer. Despite this gap in clinical research, it has been found that the selective ER downregulator tamoxifen has just as much efficacy in men with breast cancer as it has with women, Borgen concludes.