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Breast cancer: men also affected

Breast cancer: men also affected

Monday November 4, 2019

Breast cancer, very common in women, also affects men. Each year, around 550 of them are affected by the disease.

Rarer than in women

While breast cancer is most often diagnosed in women, it also affects men in around 1% of cases in France. Even if their breasts are not developed like women, men also have breast tissue.

Symptoms of breast cancer are similar to those of women. It may be a hard, painless mass, discharge or bleeding from the nipple, breast pain or inverted nipple. Some known risk factors include family history of breast cancer, exposure to radiation but also cirrhosis.

Cancer diagnosed at an advanced stage

Certain symptoms remain difficult to identify because this cancer does not affect men very much. A ball can make you think of a harmless cyst. Breast cancer only affects 0.5% of cancers in men. Moreover, it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. Franck, a computer scientist with breast cancer was diagnosed at 41 years of age. He explains in Le Figaro " One evening at health home, I felt a painless lump in my left breast. At the time, I did not worry, I thought "we'll see tomorrow" ". The doctor tells him that it may be a cyst but he suggests that he do a mammogram. The results show a cancer tumor 2 cm by 1.5.

The diagnosis is established on average around 60 years. Depending on the stage of the cancer, the patient may have a mastectomy which involves excising the breast affected by cancer. When the latter has had time to spread (metastasis), chemotherapy sessions are also prescribed to the patient. Radiotherapy sessions then allow you to use the rays to destroy or damage cancer cells.

Stéphanie Haerts