Abstract: BACKGROUND ＆ AIM： To explore the clinical characterictics and the treatment and the factors affecting prognosis of male breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS： The clinical data of 40 cases of male breast cancer were reviewed retrospectively, to analyze the factors affecting prognosis. RESULTS： All cases were diagnosed by pathological examination after surgery. The 5 and 10 years survival rates were 65 ％ and 52.5 ％ for all patients respectively. The 5 and 10 years survival rates were 72.2 ％ and 71.4％ for patients undergone radical mastectomy and modifed radical surgery. The axillary lymph nodes metastasis rate was 62.5 ％. CONCLUSION： Male breast cancer has longer course than female, It is characterized by hormone dependent, high metastasis rate and poor prognosis. The optimal treatment for male breast cancer is modified radical mastectomy combined with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and endocrine therapy.

Key words: breast tumor, cancer, male breast cancer