Endokrine Therapie des Mammakarzinoms beim Mann

Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease but regularly treated in breast centers. In fact, 1% of all newly diagnosed breast cancers are in men. Men are more likely to have a poorer prognosis compared to affected women and are, on average, diagnosed at a more advanced stage. This has led, on the one hand, to men being underrepresented in all studies, if not even excluded, and, on the other hand, to the fact that almost all treatment recommendations are based on those for breast cancer in women (female breast cancer; FBC). However, one must assume that this does not always do justice to the affected patients and their needs. Relevant differences can be primarily found in the etiology and pathogenesis of the disease, but also in endocrine therapy. While tamoxifen remains the drug of first choice for endocrine-responsive male breast cancer, treatment with aromatase inhibitors must always be combined with gonadal function suppression using gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists. This in turn has significant side effects due to the resulting testosterone deficiency.