Breast Cancer

More than 255,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States each year.

Approximately one out of every eight women either has breast cancer or will develop the disease in her lifetime. In rare cases, men have less than one percent risk of developing the disease.

Breast cancer most often develops in the lobules, which contain the breast’s milk-producing glands, or in the ducts, which carry milk to the nipples. When breast cancer is detected and treated early, it is usually not life-threatening.

Types of Breast Cancer

Ductal carcinoma is a cancer that begins in the ducts that carry milk from the bulbs that produce milk to the nipples. This is the most common type of breast cancer.

Lobular carcinoma is a cancer that begins in the lobes or lobules, which contain the bulbs that produce milk. Lobular carcinoma is more likely to develop in both breasts than other types of breast cancer.

Inflammatory breast cancer is a relatively rare form of breast cancer in which the breast becomes red, swollen, and warm to the touch.

Risk Factors That Can’t Be Controlled:

• Age over 60.
• Beginning menstruation before age 12
• Beginning menopause after age 55
• Never giving birth
• Older age when first giving birth
• Family history of breast cancer (especially mother, sister, or daughter)
• Genetic changes, especially in the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes
• Radiation treatment of the chest or breast
• Dense breast tissue
• Caucasian race
• Breast disease or previous breast cancer

Controllable Risk Factors:

• Taking estrogen or progesterone
• Drinking alcohol
• Obesity after menopause
• Not getting enough exercise or physical activity

Breast Cancer Warning Signs

• A lump in the breast or armpit
• Sore or tender nipple
• A change in the size and/or shape of the breast
• An inverted nipple (turned into the breast)
• Scaly, red, swollen, ridged, or pitted skin of the breast, nipple, or areole
• Fluid discharge from the nipple
• Breast pain (Seldom – but occasionally – a breast cancer warning sign)

Male Breast Cancer

Although breast cancer does strike men, it is rare. Less than 1% of all breast cancer patients are men.

Types of Breast Cancer in Men

• Men get some, but not all, of the types of breast cancer that women get. The effects of the diseases and staging are like those for breast cancer in women.
• Infiltrating ductal carcinoma is the most common breast cancer in men.
• Ductal carcinoma in situ also occurs in men.
• Inflammatory breast cancer also occurs in men,
• Lobular carcinoma has not been reported in men.

Risk Factors

• Age. Most men diagnosed with breast cancer are between 60 and 70.
• Exposure to radiation.
• A disease that causes high levels of estrogen in the body, such as cirrhosis.
• Having several female relatives who have had breast cancer.
• Having one male relative who has had breast cancer.
• Prior breast cancer.

Screening

Self-examination is as effective for early detection in men as in women.

Diagnosis, Staging, and Treatment

Male breast cancer is diagnosed, staged, and treated almost exactly like breast cancer in women.