There is a misconception in the society that breast cancer only occurs in women. No one of us ever thought that breast cancer could occur to males too. But the fact is breast cancer occurs in males too. It?s just that the cases of male breast cancer are rare. In a survey done recently in USA only 1200 cases of male breast cancer are registered every year in comparison to 200000 cases of women breast cancer.

The most common type of breast cancer developed by a man is known as invasive, or infiltrating, ductal carcinoma (IDC) which is also the common form in women. It sounds quite strange to hear that man develops cancer in the milk duct tissue but a man has the same type of tissues that a woman has. When tested for hormone receptor a huge amount of men have shown positive signs for both estrogen and progesterone receptors.

The mode of treatment of the male breast cancer is also the same as that of the women ranging from surgery to chemotherapy and radiation therapy etc. In general it is noticed that the average time between the development of the first symptom and the diagnosis is as long as 19 months or over a year. The main reason behind this can be concluded as nobody expects male breast cancer to occur in man. Thus the breast cancer in man is quite delayed in diagnosis in comparison to woman.

Breast problems in man are very hard to believe and hence it takes quite a long time to make up the time for the delay in diagnosis of the disease. All the treatments like surgery, chemotherapy etc is advised for men in order to make up some amount of time. The reason for this can also be the embarrassment that the man feels for having a checkup done by a doctor. The general symptoms of breast cancer in man can be characterized by the nipple becoming red, cracked or blistered.

Whenever this sort of unusual behavior of the nipple is noticed one should have a complete check up done to avoid complications later. But in general it is observed that in spite of having a late diagnosis of the disease the death rate in man because of breast cancer is quite low in comparison to women. Thus the above given data can help you easily get a generalized knowledge about male breast cancer. Breast cancer may be primarily a woman?s disease but its occurrence in man can?t be denied and if found then it must be diagnosed properly and with the appropriate method.


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