He has been engaged in breast surgery for nearly 15 years. Male breast cancer (MBC) has only been heard before and has not been seen personally. However, in the past two years, our team has admitted several male breast cancer patients. The incidence rate of male breast cancer has shown an upward trend year by year. As the therapeutic effect and prognosis of male breast cancer are worse than those of female breast cancer, the situation is not optimistic.
Therefore, it is necessary to remind the vast number of male gods that MBC is coming. Attention should be paid!
Is what Male Breast Cancer?
Male breast cancer is a rare malignant tumor, accounting for 0.2% ~ 1.5% of all male cancers and about 1% of breast cancer. Therefore, for a long time, compared with female breast cancer, we do not know much about male breast cancer.
The occurrence of breast cancer is due to the occurrence of malignant tumor tissue in breast tissue. Men also have breast tissue, so it may also lead to breast cancer. Compared with female breast cancer, male breast cancer is often found in the middle and late stages, so the tumor will be relatively large and often accompanied by lymph node metastasis.
Why do men also have breast cancer?
Like women, Men also have breast tissue in their breasts. The growth of breast tissue is regulated by hormone concentrations in the human body. Elevated estrogen levels will stimulate breast tissue proliferation. Moreover, estrogen is also secreted in men. However, under normal circumstances, androgen dominates, so male breast tissue basically does not develop. No matter whether it is congenital or acquired factors, if it leads to male hormone deficiency and excessive secretion of estrogen, such men are more likely to suffer from breast cancer. These reasons mainly include:
1. Genetic factors: About 20% of male patients with breast cancer have relatives suffering from similar diseases in their families. Therefore, genetic factors are an important cause of male breast cancer.
2. Testicular lesions: Low or missing androgen levels caused by various lesions of male testis.
3. Estrogen: If you take some drugs containing certain estrogen, this treatment may increase the risk of breast cancer and become an important inducing factor for men to suffer from breast cancer.
4. Liver lesions: The decomposition of sex hormones is mainly completed in the liver. When the liver function is damaged, estrogen in the human body cannot be inactivated and accumulates in large quantities in the body, resulting in relatively low androgen levels.
5. Obesity: Adipocytes can convert androgen into estrogen. Therefore, obese men have higher levels of estrogen in their bodies. Regular exercise and weight maintenance can reduce the risk of such cancers.
6. Environmental factors: For example, adverse external environmental effects such as exposure to radioactive substances, long-term humid and hot working environment, or long-term alcoholism can also affect human hormone levels from various mechanisms, thus causing breast cancer.
What are the manifestations of canceration of male breast?
1. Male hyperplasia of mammary glands is an important sign.
One or both breasts of men will increase sharply, accompanied by local pain, swelling, and the radiography shows the distribution of glandular tissue. This is hyperplasia of mammary glands. Like women, male hyperplasia of mammary glands is also inextricably linked with breast cancer, so once found, it is necessary to go to the hospital to find out the cause and carry out treatment.
2. Painless mass is the most important manifestation of male breast cancer.
No pain, located under the areola, growth is relatively fast, lump boundary is not clear is often highly suspected of malignant tumors. Because men’s breasts are small, it is easy to detect, so once such problems are found, they should go to the hospital as soon as possible.
3. Other suspected chest conditions include abnormal changes in the nipples, such as invagination, swelling, overflow and bleeding. Abnormalities in the skin of the chest wall, such as coarsening, orange-like changes. Or lumps or masses in armpits.
All of the above suggest the possibility of malignant lesions of male breast, which cannot be ignored.
How do doctors deal with male breast cancer?
Generally speaking, there is no special difference between male breast cancer and female breast cancer in the medical process. It is mainly divided into two steps: diagnosis and treatment.
The first step is to use X-ray examination, ultrasound examination and pathology to achieve the purpose of diagnosis.
The X-ray used to examine the breast is a special kind of X-ray, called molybdenum target plain film, which is specially designed to examine the breast and can distinguish glands and tumors of the breast. Ultrasonic manifestations are not much different from those of female breast cancer. Of course, if pathological specimens can be obtained, the final diagnosis can be made.
Once confirmed, the second step is treatment, and the preferred method should be surgery. In addition, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, endocrine therapy and targeted therapy have also developed rapidly in recent years.
Summary: Early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment
Like all malignant tumors, Factors affecting the prognosis of male breast cancer, It is mainly pathological type, stage, treatment method and presence or absence of lymph node metastasis. Although male breast cancer patients are often older and have poor prognosis, most reports also believe that the overall 5-year survival rate of males is lower than that of females after treatment. However, if early detection and timely treatment are carried out, the treatment prognosis can still tend to be the same as that of females.
Male gods, quit bad living habits, pay attention to occupational protection, don’t be shy if you have breast problems, and see a doctor in time if you have problems. Early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment are the key.
Editor: Yan Qichao
Author: Zhao Peng