Malignant tumours of the male breast--a review of 50 cases.

Carcinoma of breast is one of the less frequent malignancies in males. In this study 50 cases of malignant tumours of male breast diagnosed during a 10 years period (1980-1989) are analysed retrospectively. The malignant breast tumours in males were about 3% of all breast malignancies in both sexes and 0.34% of all types of malignant tumours diagnosed during the study period. One male breast was involved for every 33 female cases. The peak incidence was between 5th to 7th decade with mean age of 58.54 years. The mean duration of symptoms was 13.69 months and 46.15% cases reported to the hospital after one year of their symptoms. Clinically, a painless lump in the breast was most frequently seen, followed by ulceration of the skin. Histologically, the infiltrating duct carcinoma (grade III) was the predominant lesion and one case of Paget's disease of the breast was also seen.