- Symptoms of male breast cancer
- Is there a cure for breast cancer in men?
- How to identify
- Types of breast cancer in men
- How the treatment is done
Breast cancer can also develop in men, as they have a mammary gland and female hormones, although they are less frequent. This type of cancer is rare and more common in men between the ages of 50 and 65, especially when there are cases of breast or ovarian cancer in the family.
The diagnosis of male breast cancer is delayed, as men do not usually go to the doctor when symptoms are mild. Thus, tumor cells continue to proliferate, and the diagnosis is made only at the most advanced stage of the disease. For this reason, breast cancer has a worse prognosis in men compared to women.
The treatment of male breast cancer is similar to the treatment of female cancer, with mastectomy and chemotherapy being indicated. However, as the diagnosis is, in most cases, late, the rate of therapeutic success is reduced.
Symptoms of male breast cancer
Symptoms of male breast cancer include:
- Lump or lump in the chest, behind the nipple or just below the areola, which does not cause pain; Nipple turned inward; Pain in a particular area of the chest that appears times after the appearance of the lump; Wrinkled or wavy skin; Exit of blood or liquid by the nipple; Redness or scaling of the breast or nipple skin; Changes in the volume of the breast; Swelling of the tongues in the armpit.
Most breast cancer cases do not have symptoms that are easy to identify and, therefore, men with cases of breast cancer in the family should alert the mastologist to have regular examinations after the age of 50 to diagnose changes that may indicate cancer.
Although rare, breast cancer in men can be favored by factors other than family history, such as use of estrogens, severe liver problems, changes in the testicles, increased breast tissue due to the use of medications and prolonged exposure to radiation. Know other causes of breast pain in men.
Is there a cure for breast cancer in men?
There are greater chances of cure when the cancer is discovered in the beginning, however, the discovery is more frequent in a more advanced stage and, therefore, the cure is compromised. The size of the nodule and the affected ganglia must be taken into account, there is usually a greater chance of death when the nodule is more than 2.5 cm and several ganglia are affected. As with women, black men and those with mutations in the BRCA2 gene are less likely to cure.
How to identify
The identification of signs and symptoms of male breast cancer can also be done through self-examination, in the same way that it is done in women, so that the man can identify the presence of a hard lump in the chest, in addition to the presence of others symptoms such as bleeding from the nipple and pain. Find out how breast self-examination is done.
The diagnosis of breast cancer in men must be made by the mastologist through exams such as mammography, ultrasound of the breast followed by biopsy. In addition, the doctor may also recommend performing blood tests, mainly genetic, chest X-ray, bone scintigraphy and chest and abdomen tomography to check the extent of the disease, that is, if there are signs indicating metastasis.
These tests are also important to check if the changes identified by the man are indeed breast cancer, as they can be benign changes, as is the case of gynecomastia, in which there is greater development of male breast tissue. In addition, it can also indicate the presence of benign tumors, such as fibroadenoma, which is usually confined to breast tissue, not representing a risk, and is not identified as often in men.
Types of breast cancer in men
Types of male breast cancer can be:
- Ductal Carcinoma In Situ: cancer cells form in the breast ducts, but do not invade or spread outside the breast and are almost always curable with surgery; Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: affects the duct wall and develops through the glandular tissue of the breast. It can spread to other organs and account for 80% of tumors; Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: grows in the lobe of the breast and corresponds to the rarest type in men; Paget's disease: begins in the breast ducts and causes nipple crusts, scales, itching, swelling, redness and bleeding. Paget's disease can be associated with ductal carcinoma in situ or with invasive ductal carcinoma; Inflammatory Breast Cancer: it is very rare in men and consists of inflammation of the breast that causes its swelling, redness and burning, as opposed to forming a lump;
It is not known exactly what can cause breast cancer in men, but some factors that seem to collaborate are old age, previously benign breast disease, testicular disease and chromosomal mutations, such as Klinefelter Syndrome, in addition to the use of anabolics or estrogens, radiation, alcoholism and obesity.
How the treatment is done
Treatment for breast cancer in men varies according to the degree of development of the disease, but it is usually started with surgery to remove all affected tissue, including the nipple and areola, a procedure called mastectomy, as well as inflamed tongues.
When cancer is very developed, it may not be possible to remove all cancer cells and, therefore, it may be necessary to do other treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy or hormone therapy, with tamoxifen, for example. Learn more about how breast cancer is treated.
