Autotransplants in men with breast cancer

The purpose of this study was to determine the outcome of high-dose therapy with autologous hematopoietic stem cell support (autotransplants) in men w ith breast cancer. We studied 13 men receiving autotransplants for breast c ancer and reported to the Autologous Blood and Marrow Transplant Registry ( ABMTR) by 10 centers. Six men had stage 2 breast cancer, four had stage 3, and three had metastatic breast cancer. Of twelve tumors tested, all were e strogen receptor positive. Median age at transplant was 50 years, The most common conditioning regimen was cyclophosphamide, thiotepa and carboplatin (n = 5); the remaining eight men received other alkylator-based regimens. T hree men received bone marrow, eight received blood stem cells, and two rec eived both for hematopoietic support. All patients had hematopoietic recove ry. There were no unexpected regimen-related toxicities. Of 10 men receivin g autotransplants as adjuvant therapy, three relapsed 3, 5 and 50 months po st-transplant and died 16, 19 and 67 months post-transplant. Seven of 10 ar e disease-free with median follow-up of 23 months (range 6-50 months). Of t hree men treated for metastatic breast cancer, one had progressive disease and two recurrent disease at 6, 7 and 16 months post-transplant. In conclus ion, results of autotransplants for male breast cancer appear similar to th ose reported for women receiving autotransplants for breast cancer.