Men with breast cancer: symptoms, causes & management

What is breast cancer in men and breast cancer symptoms?

Breast cancer in men is a rare type of cancer that develops in the breast tissue of a man. Cancer in the breast is commonly referred to as a disease that mainly targets women, but it does occur in men. Men also have breast tissue like women, which can develop into breast cancer as cells in almost any part of the body can become malignant and may spread into other areas. Cancer occurring in men is a rare case because it is related to the cells, glands or parts that store or produce milk. The chances of arising tumour cells in the breast in a man in his whole life are 1 out of 900.

Cancer in men is most commonly found in older men around the age of 50 to 60, though it can occur at any age. Men don’t realise that breast cancer can happen to them also, due to this reason cancer in men is not diagnosed at the right time until it becomes severe or reaches its later stage.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer in men?

The following include the signs and symptoms for breast cancer, if you experience any of these, at any age make sure to contact and get checked out by the doctor.:

• A pain-free lump or thickening of the skin in or around the breast/underarm.
• Changes in the shape or size of the breast or chest area
• Changes in the skin of your breasts such as dimpling, puckering and redness
• Changes in your nipples like scaling, redness or swelling in any part of the breast
• Nipple when it starts to invert or turn inward
• Discharge/leakage of blood or fluid from the nipple

How does breast cancer develop in men?

The cause of breast cancer in men and women are similar. The breast of a man is similar to a girl’s breast before adolescence. During adolescence, women tend to produce more breast tissue along with fat but men naturally don’t.
Cancer always starts at the cellular level. Ordinarily, new and healthy cells are generated to replace the old ones. But due to disruption in the DNA as new cells are made, sometimes the cells grow out of control and begin to grow new cells abnormally which results in the formation of tumours, these can be either benign(non-cancerous) or malignant ( cancerous).

What are the risk factors of breast cancer?

The following are the risk factors of developing breast cancer in men. A risk factor that we all can control and protect ourselves.

• Being overWeight: Being overweight is a common risk factor for developing breast cancer. One of the main sources of estrogen in the body is fat tissue. Having more fat tissue means having a high level of estrogen in the body which ultimately leads to a higher risk of breast cancer.
• Diet: One should eat a healthy and more fat-free diet to prevent breast cancer as our diet and daily consumings is directly associated with the amount of fat in the body.
• Alcohol consumption: Latest research and studies have stated that a woman is at a higher risk for breast cancer if the alcohol consumption in the body is high.
• Exposure to estrogen: If you take drugs related to estrogen then you are likely to get breast cancer or you are at risk.

The risk factor you can’t control

• Older age: The main risk factor of getting breast cancer being a male is being old aged. Most breast cancers are found in men with an age 50 or older.
• Genetic mutations: Inherited changes or mutation to certain genes like BRCA1 and BRCA2, men with these changes in the genes have a high chance of getting breast cancer.
• Personal or family history of breast cancer: If you have already been diagnosed with breast cancer then, you are most likely to get it again either in the same breast or the other one or if your family members like mother, father, siblings (first-degree relative) have a link with breast cancer then you can have it.
• Liver disease: Having disease related to the liver such as hepatic cirrhosis or Klinefelter syndrome (having two X chromosomes rather than one) which increases the female hormone-like estrogen in the body.
• Radiation therapy: Having radiation therapy of the chest or around in childhood or adulthood can increase the chances of having this disease.

How is breast cancer in men diagnosed?

If your doctor has certain reasons to suspect for cancer, the following test and procedure you can follow:

• Clinical breast exam: Clinical breast exam is a physical exam done by the doctor or your healthcare provider. During a clinical breast exam, the doctor checks and feels the appearances of your breast for any lump or look at the differences in the size or shape of your breasts. They use his/her fingertip to examine it.
• Imaging tests: Next your doctor may order tests such as molecular breast imaging that uses radioactive tracers and a special camera to find cancer, mammography uses X-ray technology to produce the images of the breast. The images created are called mammograms. Occasionally, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sonograms are also used.
• Breast biopsy: It is usually done when something suspicious is caught on any of the imaging tests. The procedure involves a minute part of the breast tissue to be sent to the pathological labs to determine whether it is malignant or benign. It is the most ultimate way to be diagnosed .
• Immunohistochemistry: It is a staining process that is performed on the breast tissue in order to ensure whether the cancer cells contain HER2 receptors and/or hormonal receptors( such as estrogen and progesterone) or not, Because if it does then the patient can be treated with medications that inhibit the level of estrogen and progesterone.

Breast cancer has five stages i.e from 0 to IV, stage 0 is invasive cancer which indicates that the abnormal cells are present but have not spread in the surrounding and stage IV is metastatic cancer which determines that cancer has spread in the surrounding and even the other parts of the body.

Once you are diagnosed with breast cancer, then your doctor will help to determine the stage of cancer on which you are and treatment will be suggested according to the stage of the disease.
These tests and procedures are used to stage breast cancer :

• Body scan or CT scan: Full body scans are imaging tests that take pictures of your whole body and help to scan cancer, their stages and other diseases early.
• Bone scan: It is an imaging test that safely scans the bones of your body by using a radioactive drug, radiopharmaceutical and is an efficient tool for finding cancer that has spread or about to spread in the bone. It can also help to determine how well is your working for cancer in the bones.
• Positron emission tomography (PET) scan:
  
  It is an imaging procedure that uses radioactive substances such as radiotracers to visualise and check the changes taking place on metabolic processes or other activities like blood flow, absorption and regional chemical composition.

Treatments for men with breast cancer

In order to receive the appropriate treatments and medications, you must measure your cancer stage, overall health and preferences. Treatment for men and women are generally the same. Breast cancer treatments often include surgery and other types of therapies and medication, if needed.

Surgery:

The surgeries are of two types

The first one is a mastectomy, in which your whole breast is removed including the areola and the nipples.

While the second one sentinel lymph node biopsy. This type of surgery involves analysing and removal of only the lymph nodes and tumour cells.

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy:

If your cancer is not treated or few cancerous cells are remaining even after the surgery, then this therapy will be your major treatment. Radiation therapy uses a beam of intense energy like X-ray and protons to kill the cancer cells.

Chemotherapy:

This uses medication to cure cancer by the vein in your arm or pill form or it can be both.

Book an appointment with the Best Cancer Specialist at Oncoplus Hospital.