Male breast cancer in the veterans affairs population

Abstract

To the authors' knowledge, this is the largest series of MBC and FBC to date in the veterans population. The results suggested the presence of differences in the biology, pathology, presentation, ethnicity, and survival between patients with MBC and patients with FBC in the VA population. It is noteworthy that the survival of patients with MBC was inferior for those with early-stage disease and lymph node-negative tumors, suggesting that there are differences between the sexes in the pathogenesis and biology of breast cancer. In patients with hormone receptor-positive MBC, survival was inferior despite similar hormone treatment practices between MBC and FBC. This observational study calls for a better understanding of this disease that would allow new opportunities for specific therapeutic intervention.