"I have breast cancer? But I'm a man!"

Expert in this article: Shi Libin, Director of the Emergency Department and Attending Physician of Shijiazhuang Ping An Hospital

Reviewer of this article: Wang Haobin, Doctor of Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Associate Chief Physician of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Chengdu Third People's Hospital (Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Jiaotong University), Master's Supervisor

When most people think of "breast cancer," the first thing that comes to mind is women.

But the fact is that both men and women can suffer from this disease.

A man in Guangdong had a small wound on his chest, but he didn't take it seriously. Ten months later, the wound grew to more than half the size of his palm. He went to the hospital for a check-up and found out he had breast cancer!

Source: Screenshot of video from "Guangdong TV Electric Shock News"

The doctor said that the tumor had been confirmed to be in the late stage, and had extensively invaded the skin, muscles and ribs of the right chest wall. In the end, the man underwent chemotherapy to shrink the tumor and then removed it, and only then did he "save" his life.

I didn't expect that men can also get breast cancer? Why is it usually in the middle or late stages when it is discovered? What are the symptoms of male breast cancer? Check it out.

Can men get breast cancer too?

Male breast cancer can occur at any age, but is more common in the 50-60 age group, accounting for less than 1% of all breast cancers. Male and female breasts have the same mammary gland tissue. When the mammary gland cells in male breasts undergo malignant tumor changes, the mammary gland tissue will develop into breast cancer, which is also known as male breast cancer.

Why is male breast cancer already in the late stages when it is discovered?

This is mainly related to people's traditional concepts. It is precisely because people generally do not understand male breast cancer that they often ignore breast examinations during physical examinations. When discomfort symptoms occur, this disease is not given priority and they go to other departments for treatment, resulting in missed diagnosis. Not only that, non-breast specialists also lack understanding of this disease, which leads to delayed treatment. After a clear diagnosis, most of the cases have developed to the middle and late stages.

What are the symptoms of male breast cancer?

Compared with women, men's breasts are much smaller, so even tiny foreign objects can be easily detected and early lesions can be discovered.

When men notice these discomfort symptoms in their breasts, they should highly suspect whether they have breast cancer. It is necessary to go to the hospital as soon as possible to complete relevant examinations:

This includes feeling a painless lump with unclear boundaries, hard texture, and poor mobility around the areola, retracted nipple, local breast skin depression, nipple discharge or even bleeding, and swollen lymph nodes under the armpits.

Male breast cancer risk groups include:

A direct relative with breast cancer;

People who lack exercise for a long time, are abnormally obese, or have insufficient testosterone secretion due to long-term use of estrogen;

People with liver disease have insufficient secretion of male hormones and reduced inactivation of female hormones due to the disease.

Although both men and women can develop breast cancer, male breast cancer is a type of cancer with a relatively low incidence and a relatively high degree of malignancy. Why is this?

Why is male breast cancer more aggressive?

Due to the different physiological structures of male and female breasts, the lack of growth and development of mammary lobules and mammary alveoli results in smaller male breasts and weaker breast tissue than females. Breast tumor cells can easily spread and grow to surrounding tissues, invading the skin of the breast and nearby normal muscle tissue in a short time. This is one of the reasons why male patients with breast cancer are already in the middle and late stages of cancer when they first visit the doctor.

A survey data released at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons in 2012 was about 13,457 men (accounting for 0.9% of all breast cancer cases) and 1,439,866 women diagnosed with breast cancer who were admitted to hospitals between 1998 and 2007. The survey showed that men with breast cancer died more than two years earlier than women with breast cancer.

What are the causes?

The causes of male breast cancer are complex and the pathogenesis is unclear. Most scholars believe that it is mainly related to the following reasons:

1. Disease causes an increase in estrogen levels and a decrease in androgen levels in the body. Testicular or liver disease causes a decrease in androgen levels and an increase in estrogen in the body, leading to male breast development. Some scholars believe that breast development is a precursor to breast cancer and can easily lead to breast cancer.

2. Family genetic factors: about one-fifth of male breast cancer patients have relatives suffering from the same disease.

3. Insufficient exercise and being overweight. Appropriate physical exercise can reduce the probability of men developing breast cancer, while being overweight in middle age will significantly increase the chance of breast cancer.

The reason is that excess fat cells can convert male hormones in the body into female hormones, leading to an imbalance in hormone levels in the body.

4. Medically induced ionizing radiation to the chest, local breast tissue damage, and excessive use of estrogen in clinical treatment can also induce breast cancer.

5. Drinking alcohol increases the incidence of breast cancer. Studies have found that heavy drinkers have a risk of breast cancer that is more than six times higher than light drinkers.

How to prevent it?

Since the cause of male breast cancer is still not completely clear, it can only be prevented through other methods. For example:

Pay attention to any abnormal changes that suddenly occur in the breast

If you experience local breast pain or tenderness in the near future, feel a new painless abnormal lump with unclear boundaries, or have inverted nipples or nipple discharge, seek medical attention and examination as soon as possible.

Regular breast self-examination

Paying attention to maintaining the hygiene of both breasts is also the key to preventing male breast cancer.

Scientific selection of nourishing health products

Most tonic health products may contain hormonal ingredients. Excessive consumption may artificially cause an imbalance in hormone levels in the body, increase estrogen levels, and increase the incidence of breast cancer.

Develop a healthy lifestyle

Refuse to drink alcohol, increase physical exercise, enhance your immunity, eat a balanced diet, etc.

You can go to the hospital for regular checkups

Add breast physical examination items to the list. When clinical manifestations of suspected breast cancer appear, do not be shy to seek medical treatment. Consult a specialist as soon as possible for early diagnosis and timely treatment.

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