They also have breast cancer and these are their symptoms

They are only less than 2% of breast tumors that are diagnosed. Said like this it seems a small number, but not so much if they become people; 700 cases of breast cancer in men each year in Spain.

The main problem with breast cancer in men is its lack of knowledge. “Most of these tumors are diagnosed late,” warns Marius Soler, president of the only association in Spain for male breast cancer (INVI).

The cause? They are multiple. “We have no information on breast cancer; women do, and they are more aware ». «We demand awareness, inclusion», dice.

But medical care also fails. “In addition to the delay because the symptoms are not recognized, it is aggravated because we do not know where to go. The logical thing is primary care, but it is not always trained and, many times, they do not identify the tumor. This means that many cancers that could be identified in early stages, are done in late, metastatic, when treatment options are very limited.

Awareness, Marius points out, means that a professional can quickly rule out or confirm breast cancer. «From a stage I to a stage 4, there is a world».

Time is also ticking against male breast cancer

In Spain they are diagnosed about 700 cases of breast cancer in men and it is estimated that 60-70% of these cases are done in the advanced stages and their mortality rate is around 20%. And time is also ticking against male breast cancer.

And finally, the treatments are aimed at women. “Clinical trials hardly include men. The side effects between men and women are also different. We need much more personalized treatments. Now that we are in the era of precision medicine, we cannot receive the same treatment”, emphasizes Soler.

Symptoms of breast cancer in men

Mammography

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The breast tumor in men presents a series of peculiarities and different symptoms:

And package painless in the breast

Breast growth.

secretion of gold nippleestrous or skin tightening.

Initial data from some current studies indicate that there are differences in the biological characteristics between breast cancer in women and in men: increased hormone receptor positivity (hormone-sensitive tumors), older age and higher proportion of lymph node disease at diagnosis.

Very few cases of breast tumors in men belong to the HER2 positive (5%) and triple negative (1%) subgroups. The typical presentation of breast tumors in men is in the form of a unilateral painless palpable mass (in one breast only). ) centrally located subareaolar or eccentric to the areola-nipple complex with early involvement of the nipple.

For this reason, Marius emphasizes, awareness is important. «If you notice a lump or something strange in the nipple or in the breast, if you are a woman, you can suspect, but most men do not. It has a lump and does nothing».

The majority of cases (85-90%) of breast cancer in men correspond to an infiltrating ductal carcinoma. About 65-90% of these tumors express hormone receptors for estrogen and/or progesterone.

Also, 10-15% of men with breast cancer have a mutation in the BRCA2 gene, which increases the risk of developing breast cancer in people from the same family.

Approximately 5-10% of men with this mutation will develop breast cancer in their lifetime.and there is some evidence that male carriers who develop the tumor tend to have more aggressive disease.

Mutations in other genes – such as CHEK2, CYP17 and MLH1 – are also related to the development of breast cancer in men. Likewise, the existence of breast cancer in close relatives indicates a higher risk of developing the disease.

Due to the rarity of breast cancer in men, current data on optimal treatment and follow-up are still limited.

Currently, most treatment and follow-up algorithms are extrapolated from the large number of studies carried out on women, with data on the follow-up of male breast cancer survivors being especially scarce.

As a consequence of more advanced disease with greater nodal involvement and older age at diagnosis, male patients have a lower survival rate compared to female patients.

In this sense, GEICAM has launched a breast cancer registry in men with the objective of retrospectively analyzing approximately 1,000 cases of breast cancer in men diagnosed in some 60 Spanish hospitals between 2000 and 2017 in order to contribute to epidemiological and clinical results and the results of the treatment and follow-up carried out on these patients. .

«There is no screening, screening or prevention. The only tool is awareness», concludes Marius.