Carcinoma of Male Breast in Association with the Klinefelter Syndrome

Abstract

Carcinoma of the male breast is a comparatively rare form of malignantdisease, representing about 0.2% of all male cancer.Among 11,543 cases of carcinoma of the breast seen at the Christie Hospital and Holt Radium Institute, Manchester, between 1945 and 1959, 110 (0.95%) were in males.Other records seem to show precisely the same proportion, suggesting a similar aetiological background for breast cancer in the two sexes.Although in males there is a relation between gynaecomastia and some endocrine and hepatic disorders, no such relation has been established or noted in cancers of the male breast.Cancer of the male breast has been observed, however, in response to therapeutic oestrogen, usually administered for prostatic carcinoma (Liebegott, 1948; McClure and Higgins, 1951 Graves and Harris, 1952; Jakobsen, 1952).Since carcinoma of the male breast appears rather late in life, in.view of the greater likelihood of adiposity at this age associated gynae- comastia may be difficult to recognize.