Chemotherapy beneficial for men with nonmetastatic breast cancer

In this study, the effect of chemotherapy on men with invasive stage I to stage III breast cancer from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer database was analyzed.

Approximately 67% of the 2713 patients included in this study did not receive chemotherapy with age, T classification, N classification, tumor grade, and progesterone receptor (PR) status as strong predictors on whether chemotherapy would be given.

In patients who received chemotherapy, there was a significant 26% reduction in all-cause mortality. A marginally significant 21% reduction in breast cancer–specific mortality was also noted.

Use of chemotherapy in men with PR‐negative breast cancer was associated with improved breast cancer–specific survival and overall survival. Chemotherapy did not improve the breast cancer–specific survival for all men with PR‐positive tumors, but it was associated with improved overall survival for men with PR‐positive stage II and stage III breast cancer.

Reference
Pan H, Zhang K, Wang M, Ling L, Wang S, Zhou W. The effect of chemotherapy on survival in patients with nonmetastatic male breast cancer: a population-based observational study. Cancer. 2020;doi:10.1002/cncr.32829