Male breast cancer: symptoms, treatment, causes of breast cancer in men

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

What are the causes, symptoms and risk factors of breast cancer in men?

A: Although breast cancer is typically associated only as a women’s ailment, there are enough men also who are affected by breast cancer. The proportion of male to females affected by breast cancer may be 1:10. In both cases, it’s the breast tissue that undergoes cancerous changes. In most cases, breast cancer is diagnosed at a later stage compared to women.

Q: Symptoms of male breast cancer

  1. Lump or thickness in the breast. The lump may not be painful
  2. Redness or rash like appearance on the nipples; skin may get tender
  3. Nipple discharge

Q: What are the causes of breast cancer in men?

A: Cancer is a collection of abnormal cells that grow fast and spread through your body and destroy the normal cells, thus forming a block of dense hard lumpy cells. In some cases (about 15%-20%) male breast cancer is said to be inherited. In other cases you men may develop breast cancer due to various reasons such as exposure to radiation, receiving chest radiation therapy during your childhood. A number of others have as yet unknown reasons for contracting this disease.

Q: When should I see the doctor for male breast cancer treatment?

A: If you see abnormal lumps in your chest and have nipple discharge or anything unusual in your breast muscle area, it will be a good idea to check this up without further delay.

Q: What kinds of tests are involved in male breast cancer treatment?

A: Doctors may typically get your Mammogram, test your nipple discharge for cancerous cells, conduct a clinical breast examination to detect lumps in your chest area. In addition, you may have to go through a breast ultrasound also called ultrasonography, Sometimes, a biopsy may be required where doctors will remove some tissue from your breast and conduct examinations to detect cancerous cells. To check if the cancer has spread to areas other then the breast, doctors may resort to a CT Scan (Computerized Tomography), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) among other things.

Q: How is male breast cancer treated?

A: Breast cancer is males is the same as that in a female. But the treatment could be different in a major way – because there is no much tissue in the male breast. In males, the treatment really varies depending on the stage of cancer and also the age of the patient. Here are some procedures that are used to treat breast cancer in males:

  1. Surgery: this has various options such as “Simple mastectomy”, “Modified Radical Mastectomy” and “Sentinel Lymph node biopsy”. Each procedure is different in the sense it removes the breast tissue depending on the amount the cancer has spread to various other areas. Sometimes it removes just the breast tissue, or may even remove some part of the underarm lymph node.
  2. Radiation Therapy: used by a radiation oncologist, the cancer cells are exposed to high energy x-rays. These rays shrink and kill the cancer cells. Radiation is given by a machine outside your body focusing the x-rays on the cancerous part of the male breast.
  3. Chemotherapy uses a combination of drugs to kill cancerous cells. Chemotherapy may have side effects like hair loss, nausea, vomiting and tiredness.
  4. There are many other newer procedures to treat male breast cancer that are not covered here. You can find more details on male breast cancer here.

Q: Is there a way to prevent male breast cancer?

A: While the inherited cancer may be tough to solve, it will help if cancer is detected early enough to cure it. For others, maintain a healthy body weight, and consuming alcohol in moderation (if at all) and not smoking may help.

Related Posts on:
Sphere: Related Content

August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Health Advice Live Chat Help 

Comments

Leave a Reply