What is male breast cancer? Is the treatment any different from women?

Who doesn’t know Beyonce, also known to her millions of fans as Queen Bey? But while she garners worldwide popularity, few people know that her father, Matthew Knowles, who also served as her manager previously, is a survivor of male breast cancer.

And this week, as the United States marks Male Breast Cancer Awareness Week (October 17-23), the 72-year-old has opened up on his battle with the disease and the importance of early detection. In a recent interview with Healthline, he said: “There’s an amount of shame sometimes that men have with male breast cancer, but the more you talk about it, the more I find, the more you are open, it loses its power. For me, it does, so I talk about it.”

But do men really get breast cancer? What are the symptoms? Does the treatment vary from what women with breast cancer undergo? Here’s what we found out.

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What is breast cancer in males?

For most people, breast cancer is associated with women. However, breast cancer can occur in males, although it is rare. The American Cancer Society explains that cells in any part of the body can be susceptible to cancer and can spread to other areas of the body.

That’s what happens in male breast cancer too. Men have breast tissue and that’s where they can develop the cancer.

There are two types of male breast cancer— Invasive ductal carcinoma and Ductal carcinoma in situ. In the first, the cancer cells begin in the ducts and then grow outside the ducts into other parts of the breast tissue. However, in the second form of male breast cancer, the cancer cells are only in the lining of the ducts and have not spread to other tissues in the breast.

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The reason why most assume that breast cancer affects only women is the incidence of cases. Only one of every 100 breast cancer cases in the US is found in a man. In the UK, 319 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, compared with around 46,000 women, according to the Office for National Statistics.

However, doctors find that this is slowly changing and an increasing number of men are now being diagnosed with it.

For instance, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), about 2,790 new cases of male breast cancer will be diagnosed in the US this year and about 530 men will die from breast cancer. Data also reveals that breast cancer is about 100 times less common among White men than among White women. It is about 70 times less common among Black men than Black women.

Additionally, for men, the average lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about one in 726. But each man’s risk might be higher or lower based on whether he has the risk factors.

What are risk factors for male breast cancer?

There are several factors that could increase one’s risk for male breast cancer. One among them is ageing. The risk of breast cancer goes up as a man ages. On average, men with breast cancer are about 72 years old when they are diagnosed.

However, one of the most significant risk factors is gene mutation. Experts say that men with a mutation in the BRCA2 gene have an increased risk of breast cancer, with a lifetime risk of about six in 100. BRCA1 mutations can also cause breast cancer in men, but the risk is lower, about one in 100.

Men who also suffer from Klinefelter syndrome also have a higher risk of having breast cancer. Klinefelter syndrome is a rare genetic condition in which a male has an extra X chromosome. This can lead to the body making higher levels of oestrogen and lower levels of androgens.

More than usual exposure to radiation, especially the chest level, could also increase the risk of male breast cancer. Obesity, according to experts, can also increase the risk of male breast cancer. This is because Obesity is linked with higher levels of oestrogen in the body. This increases the risk of male breast cancer.

What are symptoms of breast cancer in males?

Experts note that the symptoms of breast cancer in males are similar to those in females. These include a painless lump in the area, or changes to the skin covering the chest, such as dimpling, puckering, scaling or changes in the colour of the skin. Redness of the skin in the chest area could also be a symptom of breast cancer in males.

Another symptom, that helped Matthew Knowles to know that something was wrong, was slight bleeding from the chest.

UK’s National Health Services also writes that sores or ulcers on your chest as well as a change in the shape or look of your nipple, such as it turning inwards (inverted nipple) or a rash on it (may look like eczema) could be signs of male breast cancer.

What is the treatment?

If a man is diagnosed with breast cancer, the treatment is the same as women, which includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapy.

The majority of men who have breast cancer undergo a mastectomy to remove the tumour. This is also what Beyonce’s dad did after being diagnosed with the condition. In this, the entire breast, including the nipple and sometimes some of the underlying chest muscle and the lymph nodes under the neighbouring armpit are removed.

Experts also note that early testing is the best form of treatment. Maria Castaldi, MD, Director of Breast Health Services at NYC Health and Hospitals, told Healthline that breast cancer in men has traditionally been reported to have a worse prognosis than breast cancer in women owing to late diagnosis.

Wassim McHayleh, MD, medical oncologist and clinical program director for the Breast Cancer Program at the AdventHealth Cancer Institute, points out that men, who do have the genetic mutation, should perform monthly self-breast examinations at the age of 35, a clinical breast examination once a year, and mammography at age 50.

As Matthew Knowles told CNN the way to fight this disease is to be ahead of it. He urges men to shed their fears and go out there to get their mammograms.

With inputs from agencies