172P Men with breast cancer: Biology and stage at diagnosis in Eastern Europe - Balkan Collaborative Project

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) in men is treated as per the recommendations for menopausal women with BC. Despite the favorable tumor biology in men, survival outcomes are worse as compared to women. We aimed to study the tumor biology and stage at diagnosis of men with BC in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. This is a retrospective study of men with invasive BC, diagnosed at Medical University Pleven, Bulgaria (2002-2020), Institute of Oncology Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2000-2020) and Institute of Radiology and Oncology in Belgrade, Serbia (2000-2018). A total of 318 men with BC were included. Mean age and stage distribution at diagnosis are shown in the table. The mean age at diagnosis was significantly lower in Romania, compared to Serbia. About 80% of patients from each country had invasive ductal cancer. The rate of invasive lobular cancer ranged from 0.6% in Romania to 8.9% in Serbia. The receptor status subtype was unknown in almost half of the patients from each country. Among patients with known receptor status, over 93% were positive for at least one of the hormonal receptors. None of the patients had a HER2-overexpressing tumor subtype.Table: 172PNumber of patients included per country, age and stage at diagnosisCountry (period)Bulgaria (2002-2020)Romania (2000-2020)Serbia (2000-2018)n%n%n%Total48100169100101100Mean age at diagnosis64.861.464.8Stage*4810010910097100I918.865.51414.4II1939.62825.74849.5III1531.35752.33435.1IV510.41816.511.0*Percentage of patients in each stage is calculated as percentage from patients with known stage at diagnosis. Open table in a new tab *Percentage of patients in each stage is calculated as percentage from patients with known stage at diagnosis. As a rare disease, BC in men is a difficult and uncommon diagnosis. This is why, not only in Eastern Europe, it is diagnosed at a later stage, compared to women. In our study more than 80% of patients have regional lymph node metastases at diagnosis. Similarly to other reports, the vast majority of our patients had invasive ductal histology and hormone receptors expressing tumors. Raising the awareness of male BC, closer follow up and optimized registration could improve the outcomes of this disease.