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Men don't have breasts. How can they get breast cancer?
Even though men do not have breasts like women, they
do have a small amount of breast tissue. In fact, the "breasts" of an
adult man are similar to the breasts of a girl before puberty, and consist of a
few ducts surrounded by breast and other tissue. In girls, this tissue grows and
develops in response to female hormones, but in men -- who do not secrete the
same amounts of these hormones -- this tissue does not develop.
However, because it is still breast tissue, men can develop
breast cancer. In fact, men get the same types of breast cancers that women do,
although cancers involving the milk-producing and storing regions of the breast
are very rare.
Why do I not hear about breast cancer in men as much as I hear
about breast cancer in women?
Breast cancer in men is a very rare disease. This is
possibly due to their smaller amount of breast tissue and the fact that men
produce smaller amounts of hormones like estrogen that are known to affect
breast cancers in women.
There are 1,400 cases of male breast cancer per year. In fact,
only about 1 in 100 breast cancers affect men and only about 10 men in a million
will develop breast cancer.
Which men are more likely to get breast cancer?
It is very rare for a man under age 35 to get breast
cancer, but the likelihood of developing the disease increases with age. Breast
cancer is most commonly diagnosed in men between age 50 and 70. Beyond that,
African-American men appear to be at greater risk than Caucasian men. In some
places in Africa, breast cancer in men is much more common. Also,
college-educated professionals appear to have a higher risk than the general
male population.
The clearest risk for developing breast cancer seems to be in
men who have had an abnormal enlargement of their breasts (called gynecomastia)
in response to drug or hormone treatments, or even some infections and poisons.
Individuals with a rare genetic disease called Klinefelter's syndrome, who often
have gynecomastia as part of the syndrome, are especially prone to develop
breast cancer.
How serious is breast cancer in men?
Doctors used to think that breast cancer in men was a
more severe disease than it was in women, but it now seems that for comparably
advanced breast cancers, men and women have similar outcomes.
The major problem is that breast cancer in men is often
diagnosed later than breast cancer in women. This may be because men are less
likely to be suspicious of an abnormality in that area.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer in men?
Symptoms are very similar to those in women. Most male
breast cancers are diagnosed when a man discovers a lump on his chest. However,
unlike women, men tend to go to the doctor with more severe symptoms that often
include bleeding from the nipple and abnormalities in the skin above the cancer.
The cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes in a large number of these men.
How is breast cancer diagnosed and treated in men?
The same techniques -- physical exams, mammograms and
biopsies (examining small samples of the tissue under a microscope) -- that are
used to diagnose breast cancer in women are also used in men.
The same four treatments that are used in treating breast
cancer in women -- surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormones -- are also
used to treat the disease in men. Mastectomy is the recommended surgery in men.
Many breast cancers in men have hormone receptors, that is,
they have specific sites on the cancer cells where specific hormones like
estrogen can act. Therefore, hormonal treatment in men is more likely to be
effective.
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