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Male Breast Cancer

Good Essays

Male Breast Cancer, Causes, Risk Factors and Prevention
By Istvan S Diego
Introduction
Notwithstanding that male breast cancer is a rare phenomenon, it is still possible. Such cases account for only 1% of all breast cancer. The American Cancer Society forecasts that over 1,000 new cases of breast cancer in men will be diagnosed in 2010 ("Male Breast Cancer"). The survival rate in men is lower than in women, mostly because men often report the symptoms of breast cancer too late ("Male Breast Cancer"). The disease is more likely to spread, leaving many men with less hope that treatment will lead to recovery. The main reasons of that are first of all the lack of the research in this field that leads to the second reason that is men’s …show more content…

Men with this condition have longer legs, a higher voice, and a thinner beard than average men do. Their testicles are smaller than usual and do not produce functioning sperm cells, so the men are infertile. Compared with other men, they have lower levels of androgens (male hormones) and more estrogens (female hormones). For this reason, they often develop gynecomastia (benign male breast growth) and have an increased risk of male breast cancer. * Radiation exposure: A man whose chest area has been exposed to radiation (usually for treatment of a cancer inside the chest such as Hodgkin's or non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) has an increased risk of developing breast cancer. * Liver disease: The liver plays an important role in sex hormone metabolism by producing binding proteins, which carry the hormones in the blood. These binding proteins affect the hormones’ activity. Men with severe liver disease such as cirrhosis have relatively low levels of androgen activity and higher estrogen levels. For this reason, they may have an increased risk of developing gynecomastia and breast cancer. * Estrogen treatment: Estrogen-related drugs are sometimes used in hormonal therapy of men with prostate cancer. This treatment may cause a slight increase in breast cancer risk. However, this risk is small compared with the benefits of this treatment in slowing the growth of prostate cancer. Men taking high doses of

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