How Common Is Male Breast Cancer?

All people, whether male or female, are born with some breast cells and tissues. Although men do not develop milk-producing breasts, the cells and tissues of a man's breasts can develop cancer. Even so, male breast cancer is very rare. Less than one percent of all breast cancer cases develop in men, and only one in every thousand men will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Breast cancer in men is usually detected as a hard lump under the nipple and areola. Men have a higher mortality than women, mainly because awareness among men is lower and they are less likely to assume that a lump is breast cancer, which can cause a delay in seeking treatment.
Male breast cancer is a relatively rare cancer, but that doctors often diagnose in later stages. Knowing how to recognize the signs can help a person receive early treatment.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), a man's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is about 1 in 833. The prognosis for male breast cancer is excellent if the diagnosis occurs in the early stages. However, early diagnosis is not always possible.
One factor in the diagnosis delay is lack of awareness. While many women know how to look for changes that may indicate breast cancer, there is less awareness among men, which means they are less likely to seek help in the early stages.
Breast cancer can also affect men differently, since they have a small amount of breast tissue compared to women. This may facilitate the detection of small lumps, but it also means that the cancer has less space to grow inside the breast. As a result, it can spread more rapidly to nearby tissues.
For these and other reasons, about 40% of men with breast cancer receive a diagnosis in stage 3 or 4, when the disease has already spread to other parts of the body. As a result, overall survival rates are lower for men than for women.
Of the men who develop breast cancer, the vast majorities of these cases are infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC), which means that cells in or around the ducts begin to invade surrounding tissue. Very rarely, a man can be diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, or Paget's disease, of the nipple.
Risk factors involved are:
• Radiation exposure
• High levels of the hormone estrogen.
• Family history of breast cancer, especially breast cancer related to the BRCA2 gene.
Signs and symptoms:
Male breast cancer may have the same symptoms as breast cancer in women, including a lump. Anyone who notices anything unusual in their breasts, whether male or female, should contact their doctor immediately. Survival rates and treatment for men with breast cancer are very similar to those for women. Early detection of breast cancer increases treatment options and often reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer.
Genetic test
Although the results of treatment are very similar to those of women at the same stage of detection, a man diagnosed with breast cancer should also consider consulting a genetic counselor for a consultation. If a man tests positive for a defective gene (more commonly BRCA1 or BRCA2) that can lead to a future diagnosis of breast cancer and his children have a 50% chance of carrying the gene.
• A male child of a man with breast cancer who inherits the defective BRCA2 gene has only about 6% chance of developing breast cancer and a little more than 1% with BRCA1.
• A daughter of a man with breast cancer who inherits the defective gene has a 40% to 80% risk of developing breast cancer.
• Men with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer also have a higher risk of getting prostate cancer at a younger age than is usually diagnosed.

By: Preeti Narula
Content: https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/male-breast-cancer