Can Men Get Breast Cancer Too? Everything You Need to Know About Male Breast Cancer

When you hear the words breast cancer, you almost always think of women. Most people believe this disease only affects women.

Did you know that men can get breast cancer too? It is true that this condition is rare in men.

Only about one in every one hundred breast cancer patients is a man. Even though it is rare, you should never ignore it.

If you notice a lump or a strange change in your chest area, do not brush it off. Never assume it cannot happen just because you are a man.

Any suspicious lump or change should be checked by a doctor right away.

What Is Male Breast Cancer?

Simply put, male breast cancer is a disease where cells in the chest breast tissue grow out of control. Both men and women have breast tissue.

However, men have much less of it than women do. Cancer can still start growing inside these tiny pockets of tissue.

Awareness of this condition is very important for everyone. Some men delay seeing a doctor because of embarrassment or the false belief that men cannot get this disease.

Waiting too long allows the illness to grow and spread. That makes treatment much harder later on.

What Are the Types of Male Breast Cancer?

Cancer starts inside your chest breast tissue. Just like women, men have tiny milk-making glands called lobules.

They also have small tubes called ducts that carry fluid toward the nipple. Men do not usually develop large milk ducts because they do not need to feed babies.

Even so, cancer in men almost always starts inside these tiny ducts. There are two main types of male breast cancer:

• Ductal Carcinoma: About nine out of ten male breast cancer cases belong to this group. The cancer starts inside the milk ducts and spreads to other parts of the breast. There are two main forms of ductal carcinoma.
• Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: This is the most common form of the disease. The cancer starts inside the ducts and breaks through into nearby breast tissue.
• Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS): This form is much less common. The abnormal cells stay trapped inside the ducts and do not spread outside them.
• Lobular Carcinoma: This cancer starts inside the tiny milk glands called lobules. Invasive lobular carcinoma means it spreads to nearby tissue. However, this type is very rare in men because men have very few lobules.

Cancer cells often have special chemical flags called receptors on their surface. When certain natural body chemicals attach to these flags, the cancer cells start to grow very fast. Think of it like a key fitting into a lock. Most male breast cancer cells respond to the hormones estrogen and progesterone. The most common type found in men is estrogen receptor-positive invasive ductal carcinoma.

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What Are the Symptoms of Male Breast Cancer?

The most common sign that men notice first is a hard lump under the nipple. This lump is usually painless.

There are several other warning signs that you should watch out for:

• A new lump or swelling under your arm in the armpit.
• Skin over your chest that looks thick, puckered, or dimpled like an orange peel.
• Redness, flaking, or dry skin around your nipple or chest area.
• Pain or a tight feeling in your chest or armpit.
• Clear fluid or blood coming out of your nipple, or a nipple that turns inward.

If you notice any of these signs, do not assume it will go away on its own. Go see a doctor right away to get a clear answer.

What Causes Male Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer happens when changes, known as mutations, occur in the DNA inside breast cells. These changed cells grow out of control and refuse to die.

They pile up and form masses called tumors. Sometimes, bits of these tumors break off and travel through your lymph system or blood vessels to other parts of your body.

When cancer spreads like this, doctors call it metastatic cancer. Scientists are still studying why healthy cells turn into cancer cells.

What Are the Risk Factors?

Certain things can raise your chances of getting breast cancer. Let us look at what those risk factors are:

• Age: Your chances go up as you get older. Doctors find male breast cancer most often in men over the age of sixty. This does not mean young men never get it, but age raises the risk.
• Family History: If your mother, father, brother, sister, or child had breast or ovarian cancer, your risk is higher. Some cancer genes pass down through families.
• Genetic Mutations: Certain gene changes raise your breast cancer risk. The most important ones are the BRCA1 and especially the BRCA2 gene changes. Other changes in the PTEN, TP53, or MMR genes can also raise your risk.
• High Estrogen Levels: Certain medical conditions can raise estrogen levels in your body. Examples include severe liver disease called cirrhosis, heavy body weight, and Klinefelter syndrome. Drinking too much alcohol can also raise your estrogen levels.
• Testicle Issues: If you had one testicle removed by surgery, suffered a testicle injury, had an infection called orchitis, or had testicles that failed to drop down properly, your risk is higher.
• Radiation Therapy: If you received radiation treatments to your chest area in the past, your risk of breast cancer goes up.

How Can You Lower Your Risk?

If you think you might carry a gene change that raises your cancer risk, getting a genetic test is a wise choice.

A family history of breast or ovarian cancer is a strong clue that a BRCA2 gene change might be in your family tree. This gene change can lead to skin cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer as well.

A doctor can help you decide if a genetic test is right for you and explain what your results mean.

How Do Doctors Diagnose Male Breast Cancer?

When you visit a doctor, they will ask about your symptoms and your personal health history. They will also look closely at your risk factors.

To find out if you have breast cancer, they use a few key tests:

• Breast Exam: The doctor will feel your chest tissue with their fingers. They will check for skin changes, lumps, or anything else that feels unusual.
• Imaging Tests: A mammogram can help spot most male breast cancers. This test uses low-dose X-rays to take pictures of your breast tissue. Sometimes, doctors use an ultrasound scan before or after the mammogram to get a closer look at a lump.
• Biopsy: This is the only way to know for sure if cancer is present. The doctor takes a tiny sample of tissue from the lump and sends it to a lab for testing under a microscope.

Pathologists in the lab check the tissue sample for cancer cells. They also test for hormone receptors and the HER2 protein, which helps cancer grow. These lab details help your doctor plan the best treatment.

What Are the Stages of Male Breast Cancer?

Once cancer is confirmed, doctors figure out its stage. Staging tells you the size of the tumor and how far the cancer has spread.

Your doctor may order extra imaging tests and a sentinel node biopsy. This biopsy checks the lymph nodes closest to the tumor to see if cancer cells have traveled there.

The main stages of male breast cancer are:

• Stage 0: Cancer cells are found only inside the milk ducts. This is also called ductal carcinoma in situ.
• Stage 1: The tumor is small and has not spread to any lymph nodes.
• Stage 2: The tumor is larger than in stage one. It may have spread to a few nearby lymph nodes in your armpit.
• Stage 3: The cancer has spread to several lymph nodes, and the tumor may be larger. Cancer cells may also have spread to your chest wall or skin.
• Stage 4: Cancer cells have spread to distant parts of your body. In men, breast cancer most often spreads to the bones, lungs, and liver.

How Do Doctors Treat Male Breast Cancer?

Your treatment plan depends on the type of cancer and how far it has spread. Doctors often use a combination of different treatments.

Surgery.

Surgery is the main treatment for early-stage male breast cancer. Most of the time, surgeons remove the entire breast.

This operation is called a mastectomy. Sometimes doctors perform a lumpectomy to remove just the lump, but mastectomies are much more common for men.

In some cases, a modified radical mastectomy is done. This removes all breast tissue and nearby armpit lymph nodes while leaving chest muscles alone.

Radiation Therapy.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy X-rays or other rays to kill cancer cells. Doctors often use radiation after a lumpectomy to destroy any remaining cancer cells.

It can also treat small areas near the chest wall or skin that surgery could not reach. This helps stop the cancer from coming back.

Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy uses special medicines traveling through your body to kill cancer cells. If a tumor has not spread, doctors might use chemo before surgery to shrink it.

They can also give chemo after surgery along with radiation to lower the chance of cancer returning anywhere in your body. Doctors give these treatments in a careful sequence.

Hormone Therapy.

If cancer cells use hormones like estrogen to grow, doctors use hormone therapy to lower estrogen levels or block its effects.

Tamoxifen is the most common medicine used for male breast cancer. Other medicines like aromatase inhibitors, combined with GnRH agonists, also stop hormones from helping cancer grow.

Targeted Therapy.

Targeted therapy uses special drugs to block specific processes that help cancer cells grow. These drugs only work on certain types of cancer cells.

For example, some drugs target specific hormone receptors. For cancers linked to BRCA gene changes, medicines called PARP inhibitors are available.

When Should You See a Doctor?

If you notice a new lump in your chest that does not go away after two weeks, schedule an appointment with your doctor right away.

Always follow your doctor's advice on how often to check your health and report any new symptoms.

What Happens If You Have Male Breast Cancer? (Prognosis).

Your outlook, or prognosis, depends mostly on the type of cancer and the stage at diagnosis. Finding the cancer early gives you a very high chance of beating it.

A recent study looked at death rates for men with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer based on the stage at diagnosis. Within twenty years after diagnosis:

• Stage I: 12.4% of men died from breast cancer.
• Stage II: 26.2% of men died from breast cancer.
• Stage III: 46% of men died from breast cancer.

Sadly, many men wait too long before seeing a doctor. Because of this delay, doctors often find the cancer only after it has spread. That makes treatment much harder. This is why you must see a doctor quickly if you spot any unusual chest lump. Many men do not think breast cancer can happen to them, so they ignore warning signs. But men do get breast cancer. Finding it early and getting treatment saves lives. If anyone in your family has had breast cancer, talk to your doctor about early screening.