Epidemiology and aetiological factors of male breast cancer: a ten years retrospective study in eastern Turkey.

The aim of this study was to assess the epidemiological and aetiological factors of male breast carcinoma in eastern Turkey. For this purpose we evaluated breast carcinoma patients admitted to our regional hospital from 1990 to 2000. A total of 196 patients were admitted during that time, 11 of whom were male (5%). The average age at presentation was 60.7 +/- 7.5. Infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the most frequent histopathological type; lobular carcinoma was detected in only one of our cases. Right-sided male breast carcinoma was seen in 7 of 11 cases, left-sided in four cases. We detected gynaecomastia in two patients. Other factors were excessive alcohol consumption for 35 years in one patient, family history in one patient and exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and light at night in four patients. We demonstrated no risk factor in the other three cases. Of the patients in our study, the youngest was 45 years old--the patient with post-pubertal gynaecomastia. The overall rate of male breast carcinoma seen among people who had worked for the Turkish Institution of Electricity in eastern Turkey was 0.3%. In our study we demonstrated a close relation between exposure to EMFs and light at night and male breast carcinoma in eastern Turkey. We also supposed that not only exposure to EMFs but also the duration of the exposure could affect the risk of development of male breast carcinoma.