Cancer Causes and Control, 4, 143 - 151 Histologic types and hormone receptors in breast cancer in men: a population-based study in 282 United States men H e l g e Stalsberg, D a v i d B. T h o m a s , Karin A. Rosenblatt, L. Margarita J i m e n e z , A n n e M c T i e r n a n , A n n e t t e S t e m h a g e n , W. D o u g l a s T h o m p s o n , M a r y G. M c C r e a C u r n e n , W ill i am Satariano, D o n a l d F. A u s t i n , R a y m o n d S. Greenberg, Charles Key, L a u r e n c e Kolonel, and D e e W e s t (Received 14 October 1992; accepted in revised form 30 November 1992) Histologic slides from 282 incident cases of breast cancer in men, that were identified in 10 populatio cancer registries in the United States, were reviewed by a single pathologist. Breast cancer more ofte sented in the noninvasive stage in men (10.8 percent of all cases) than would be expected among wom noninvasive carcinomas were of the ductal type. Of invasive carcinomas, compared with women, men smaller proportions of lobular and mucinous types and larger proportions of ductal and papillary type Paget's disease. No case of tubular or medullary carcinoma was seen. The breast in men is composed ducts and normally contains no tobules, and the histologic types of breast carcinomas that predomina men are likely of duetal origin. Estrogen and progesterone receptors were present in 86.7 percent an percent of invasive carcinomas, respectively, which are higher proportions than would be expected am women. Also, unlike findings in women, receptor content was not associated with patient age at diagn Key words: Breast cancer, breast pathology, histologic classification, hormone receptors, males, United State I n t r o d u c t i o n Carcinoma of the breast is approximately 100 times less common in men than in women. ~,2 The histologic types are largely the same in both genders, but some differences in the distribution of types have been described. Lobular carcinoma is considered generally to be rare in men, and some authors have noted a higher proportionof papillary carcinoma than is usually reportedin women. 3-19 Among studies that have Dr Stalsherg is with the Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromso, Troms•, Norway, and Drs Thomas, Rosenblatt, Ji McTiernan are with the Program in Epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. Authors also a the University of Illinois, Champaign, I L, USA (Dr Rosenblatt); the Institutio Regional de Investigacion en Salud Publica, Guad (Dr Jimenez); the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA (Dr McTiernan); the Pharmaceutical Divis GEIGY Corp., Summit, NJ, USA (Dr Stemhagen); the University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, USA (Dr Thompson); the C Cancer Epidemiology Unit, New Haven, CT, USA (Dr McCrea Curnen); the School of Public Health, University of California, B USA (Dr Satariano); the Resource for Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Health Services, Emeryville, CA, USA (Dr Austin); the School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, CA, USA (Dr Greenberg); the New Mexico Tumor Registry, Albuquerque, NM, USA Epidemiology Program, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA (Dr Kolonel); the Northern California Cancer meda, CA, USA (Dr West). Address correspondence to Dr Stalsberg, Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromso, N-9 Norway. This study was funded by grant number RO1 CA35653 from the US National Cancer Institute. © 1993 Rapid Communications of Oxford Ltd Cancer Causes and Control. Vol 4. 1993 143