Male breast cancer in Yaounde, Cameroon: a population study and review

Enow Orock GE¹*, Takang WA², Eyongeta DE³, Weledji PE⁴, Ewane TP¹, and Ngowe NM⁴

¹Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Buea/ Yaounde Cancer Registry, Cameroon.

²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Bamenda, Cameroon.

³Department of Surgery, Urology unit, Faculty of Health Science, University of Buea, Cameroon.

⁴Department of Surgery, Faculty of Health Science, University of Buea, Cameroon.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: enowrock24@yahoo.com: Tel (237) 7771 6045

Accepted 24 February, 2014

Abstract

In order to find out the profile of breast cancer among males in our community, this 6 years retrospective study was carried out using data from the Yaounde Cancer Registry from 2004 to 2010. A total of 43 patients, giving an annual incidence of 7, aged 26-80 years (average 51.1 years) were found. This constituted 2.1% of all breasts and about 1.4% of all cancers diagnosed in the population. Majority of our patients (87%) were of intermediate or high social status and presented at late stages (III or IV). The morphology of the tumour was predominantly a duct carcinoma (86%), diagnosed mainly on biopsy specimens (79%) or by Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (18.6%). Though the incidence of the disease is still low in this community, public education needs to be intensified. This  is to induce patients to present earlier, a key factor in the management outcome of this disease, which is still erroneously considered a female disease. Further studies to document trends on male breast cancer are recommended.

Keywords: Male, breast cancer, Cameroon