Male Breast Cancer Characteristics: Identifying the Incorrect Statement
The statement "Most commonly it is infiltrating lobular carcinoma" is not correct regarding male breast cancer.
Male breast cancer has several distinct characteristics that differentiate it from female breast cancer. Let's examine each statement:
Epidemiology and Prevalence
- Male breast cancer accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancers, not 2% as stated in option A 1, 2
- Male breast cancer is a rare malignancy, representing approximately 0.8% of all breast cancer cases 3
Risk Factors
- Exocrine or endocrine estrogen exposure can indeed predispose men to breast cancer 4, 5
- Conditions associated with hyperestrogenism, such as Klinefelter's syndrome, are established risk factors for male breast cancer 5
- Other risk factors include genetic predisposition (particularly BRCA2 mutations), radiation exposure to the chest, and testicular disease 4, 5, 3
Histological Types
- Invasive ductal carcinoma is the predominant histological type in male breast cancer, accounting for approximately 90% of cases 6
- Infiltrating lobular carcinoma is extremely rare in men, representing less than 1% of all male breast cancers 7
- The rarity of infiltrating lobular carcinoma in men is attributed to the limited development of lobular elements in the male breast 1
Clinical Presentation
- Male breast cancer typically presents as a painless, firm subareolar mass or a mass in the upper outer quadrant of the breast 8
- On imaging, male breast cancer typically appears as an irregular mass, often without calcifications and eccentric to the nipple 2
Treatment Considerations
- Male breast cancer is predominantly hormone receptor-positive (81% estrogen receptor positive, 74% progesterone receptor positive) 3
- Tamoxifen is the standard adjuvant therapy for hormone receptor-positive male breast cancer 5
- Treatment approaches are similar to those for women but must account for the higher prevalence of hormone receptor positivity in men 1
The histological pattern of male breast cancer is a critical distinguishing feature, with invasive ductal carcinoma being the predominant type, not infiltrating lobular carcinoma as incorrectly stated in option D.