As part of a series on hidden or stigmatised health conditions in men, The Conversation has a good piece on male breast cancer. It's co-authored by Christobel Saunders, Professor of Surgical Oncology, University of Western Australia. She is a member of the BCNA board and you have remember her if you've attended one of our forums or if you caught Keeping Australia Alive in March.
Although breast cancer is usually seen as a woman’s disease, around 145 Australian men were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and around 25 died from it. A little under 1% of all breast cancers occur in men, so it is more common than most people think.
There are ethnic differences in the incidence of male breast cancer. In sub-Saharan Africa, 7-14% of breast cancer cases occur in men. In the United States, rates are highest in African-American men, intermediate in non-Hispanic Caucasian men and Asian-Pacific Islanders, and lowest in Hispanic men.
So why do men get breast cancer?
Men also have breast tissue, but usually much smaller amounts than women, and it is exposed to much lower levels of oestrogen and progesterone hormones. We know that men who have relatively high female hormone levels are at increased risk of developing breast cancer.
Read the entire article here.
