The lack of information, shame, the consideration that it is an eminently female disease and the infrequency of cases in men, about 350 a year in Spain, mean that 80% of men who develop breast cancer go to the clinic when the tumor is already in an advanced stage.
And that also raises the average age at which men are diagnosed with breast cancer, which is delayed to 60 years, they recalled at a press conference Noelia Martínez, medical oncologist at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid; Ignacio Moncada, president of the Spanish Association of Andrology, Sexual and Reproductive Medicine (Asesa), and Màrius Soler, president of the Male Breast Cancer Association (Invi).
They have done so at the “Invisibles 23” meeting, the first event held in Spain focused on this disease; because although few and very frequent, breast tumors in men account for around 1.5% of the 35,000 cases diagnosed annually in our country, although, as is happening in women, “it seems that it is slowly growing”, he pointed out. the doctor.
The problem is that there is hardly any data given the low incidence of cases; thats why he Geicam Breast Cancer Research Groupof whose board of directors this expert is a part, has created the first National Registry of Breast Cancer in Men, which to date has compiled the clinical data and biological specimens of 760 patients.
Weight of the genetic factor in men with breast cancer
From retrospective studies, it is known that the genetic factor has a greater weight in men than women, so that this component is behind 20% of the tumors of men compared to 5% of those of women. In addition, the sisters or daughters of these patients have between 2 and 3 times more risk of developing this cancer.
More risk factors are hormonal changes, exposure to ionizing radiation, obesity, having Klinefelter syndrome (a genetic condition that affects testosterone production) or liver disease.
Unlike women, in whom the most common tumor subtype is HER2-positive, men develop more luminal (accounting for between 90% and 92%) or those with positive estrogen receptors; the most frequent symptoms they develop are a lump in the breast or its growth (gynecomastia), discharge from the nipple or retraction of the same or of the skin.
“Everything has been extrapolated to women’s cancer, and it has already been seen that there are differences that we must treat,” emphasized the medical oncologist, who has stressed the need to investigate and address it individually in men based on biology of each patient’s tumor.
For this reason, together with the registry, Geicam has launched the Ardene program, a translational research project to advance individualization in order to identify the best treatment; the group expects to complete the recruitment process before June and publish the first results in the second semester.
Only 1% of breast cancers affect men. EFE/Ana SoterasExperts have agreed on the urgency of raising awareness about this disease, because “men never think they can have breast cancer, they think it’s a women’s thing”, and this leads these patients to isolation, stigma and “the think that they are alone”, argued Forcada.
With the consequence that eight out of ten receive a late diagnosis, “which is very negative because when a cancer is metastatic we can no longer cure it, we can treat it. We have to avoid getting to this situation”, which is why the doctor has called on the men to go to the doctor if they suspect a self-examination.
The great concern of patients like him, has added Màrius Soler, president of the Male Breast Cancer Association (Invi), “it is sexuality, because a secondary effect is that it is completely inhibited”; also the work environment, because the stigma they feel makes them not even mention that they have this disease, or psychological factors.
Hence, he has insisted on the importance of talking about “people with breast cancer” and not men and women with breast cancer, and extending awareness beyond designated dates. “Cancer is 365 days a year, it is not one”, she has settled.