INTRODUCTION: Palpable breast tissue is so prevalent in studies of men and boys that some authors suggest differentiating it from clinically important gynecomastia. Understanding male breast problems present a great challenge to many physicians especially when there is no specific guidelines developed for men.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to determine the demographic and clinical profile of male patients with breast problems consulting at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.

METHODOLOGY: This study is a review of 77 male patients seen at the breast center of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center from April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2004. The clinical profile included the age, geographic origin, chief complaint, family history of breast cancer, clinical breast examination findings, attributes of the clinically palpable breast mass like number, size, consistency, laterality, location, associated breast pain and pain score, clinical diagnosis and final histopathologic report.

RESULTS: Within this time period, there were 2,669 consultations seen at the breast clinic. A total of 77 male patients, comprising 2.9 percent were seen at the clinic. The mean age of occurrence was 36.2 years old. The frequency distribution of breast problem is highest between the ages of 20 to 29 years old at 40.3 percent. In all of the 69 patients (89.61 percent) with clinically palpable mass, 66 patients (95.65 percent) only had a solitary mass while 3 patients (4.35 percent) had two masses. Forty-three (59.7 percent) of the masses were less than 2 centimeters in diameter. Only 1 (1.4 percent) of the 72 masses was fixed to the chest wall which turned out to be a soft tissue sarcoma while the rest (98.6 percent) were freely movable. Based on the final histopathologic results, gynecomastia was the most common diagnosis among patients subjected to fine needle aspiration biopsy and excisional biopsy.

CONCLUSION: Male breast problems are common in the third decade of life and among patients living the urban area like Metro Cebu. Male patients sought consultation due to problems of unilateral firm breast mass less than 2 centimeters in diameter located in the nipple-areola complex. The most common clinical diagnosis is that of gynecomastia which is supported by the final histopathologic result of the same condition.