subject: Male Breast Cancer Causes and Symptoms and Treatment of Breast Cancer [print this page] Male Breast Cancer Causes and Symptoms and Treatment of Breast Cancer
Men possess a small amount of nonfunctioning breast tissue (breast tissue that cannot produce milk) that is concentrated in the area directly behind the nipple on the chest wall. Like breast cancer in women, cancer of the male breast is the uncontrolled growth of the cells of this breast tissue.
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Breast tissue in both young boys and girls consists of tubular structures known as ducts. At puberty, a girl's ovaries produce female hormones (estrogen) that cause the ducts to grow and milk glands (lobules) to develop at the ends of the ducts. The amount of fat and connective tissue in the breast also increases as girls reach puberty. On the other hand, male hormones (such as testosterone) secreted by the testes suppress the growth of breast tissue and the development of lobules. The male breast, therefore, is made up of predominantly small, undeveloped ducts and a small amount of fat and connective tissue.
Symptoms of male breast cancer
1. Lump or thickness in the breast. The lump may not be painful
2. Redness or rash like appearance on the nipples; skin may get tender
3. Nipple discharge
Causes of breast cancer in men
Cancer is a collection of abnormal cells that grow fast and spread through your body and destroy the normal cells, thus forming a block of dense hard lumpy cells.
In some cases (about 15%-20%) male breast cancer is said to be inherited. In other cases you men may develop breast cancer due to various reasons such as exposure to radiation, receiving chest radiation therapy during your childhood. A number of others have as yet unknown reasons for contracting this disease.
Male breast cancer treated?
Breast cancer is males is the same as that in a female. But the treatment could be different in a major way because there is no much tissue in the male breast. In males, the treatment really varies depending on the stage of cancer and also the age of the patient. Here are some procedures that are used to treat breast cancer in males:
1. Surgery: this has various options such as Simple mastectomy', Modified Radical Mastectomy' and Sentinel Lymph node biopsy'. Each procedure is different in the sense it removes the breast tissue depending on the amount the cancer has spread to various other areas. Sometimes it removes just the breast tissue, or may even remove some part of the underarm lymph node.
2. Radiation Therapy: used by a radiation oncologist, the cancer cells are exposed to high energy x-rays. These rays shrink and kill the cancer cells. Radiation is given by a machine outside your body focusing the x-rays on the cancerous part of the male breast.
3. Chemotherapy uses a combination of drugs to kill cancerous cells. Chemotherapy may have side effects like hair loss, nausea, vomiting and tiredness.
