Breast cancer in men is rare, but it does happen. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1 in every 1,000 men will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, compared to 1 in 8 women. Having said that, it does still occur.
When diagnosed, the cancer will be staged; that is, assessed to see how far it has progressed. Depending on the stage, you and your doctor can discuss what treatment options are available.
Some of the treatments will be the same as those for women. However, some which are effective on breast cancer in women are not effective in men.
Types of Breast Cancer
The main treatments for breast cancer are similar to those of women who have the same type of breast cancer. In men, the most common cancer is found in the milk ducts of the male breast. It is termed ductal carcinoma.
Only around 2% of men get lobular carcinoma, that is, cancer of the glands or lobes which produce milk. This is because men have far fewer lobes than women.
One other form of breast cancer men need to be aware of is Paget’s disease of the breast, a form of breast cancer that begins in the milk ducts of the breast tissue and spreads to the skin of the nipple, causing its appearance to change.
Treatments for Male Breast Cancer
Once the kind of breast cancer has been determined, there will be a number of treatment options to consider, including:
- Surgery
- Radiation
- Chemotherapy
- Hormonal therapy
Depending on the stage of the cancer, all of these might be used at some point.
Surgery
As with women, the purpose of surgery is to remove the cancerous tumor, a grouping of abnormal cells, in the hope that they will be able to remove all of them from the body and enable the person to become cancer-free once more.
There are two main forms of breast cancer surgery, a lumpectomy and a mastectomy. As the name suggests, a lumpectomy aims to remove only the lump and a margin of tissue surrounding it that might also be cancerous. It is also referred to as breast sparing surgery for those women who do not want their entire breast to be removed.
However, because men have so little breast tissue compared with women, a lumpectomy is not really practical, so the surgical treatment of choice is the mastectomy, also known as a radical mastectomy. A mastectomy can involve full removal of the breast, and sometimes muscle and other surrounding tissue as well, including lymph nodes and liver tissue.
Radiation Therapy
Some men may have radiation therapy following surgery, depending upon the stage of the breast cancer. Highly focused beams of radiation will be aimed at the chest, usually the site of the tumor and surrounding area, to try to kill off any stray cells.
Hormone Therapy
Many cancers are linked to hormonal activity, so hormone therapy can help stop the spread of cancer. However, this kind of therapy may lead to significant side effects in men, such as erectile dysfunction.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is designed to kill off any microscopic cancer cells that might have strayed from the tumor site and could form cancer elsewhere. A range of drugs have been proven effective for women, but they do not all work for men.
Surgery, radiation, hormone therapy and chemotherapy are the cornerstones of successful breast cancer treatment for both men and women.
