Breast tissue

It might seem odd that boys can get breast cancer at all, because they don’t have breasts in the same way that women do. But both men and women have breast tissue on their chests. This tissue grows larger in girls when they reach puberty but doesn’t develop in the same way in boys.
The fact that men have far fewer breast tissue cells than women makes getting breast cancer much less likely. Experts reckon that men are more than 100 times less likely to get the disease than women. For example, in 2004 there were 44,100 cases diagnosed in the UK – only 300 were men.

Risk factor

The main risk factors for men are:

age – the average age that breast cancer is diagnosed in men is 67
hormones – high levels of the female hormone oestrogen can affect breast growth
family history – you have a greater risk if someone else in your family has been diagnosed with breast cancer
radiation exposure – for example, during treatment for another disease

The main symptoms to look out for are a lump in the breast area, nipple pain, discharge from the nipple or enlarged lymph glands under the arm.

Other causes

Don’t forget that these symptoms can point to many other issues. For example, young teenager boys often get lumps in their breasts that aren’t cancer. These are caused by a condition called gynecomastia. This isn’t a dangerous problem and the lumps usually clear up on their own.
Some very rare forms of cancer make secondary lumps in the breast so it is very important to get the correct diagnosis.
Make sure that you are examined by an expert to confirm the diagnosis. They will also be able to talk to you about treatment.

What is breast cancer in men?

A breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts from cells of the breast. A malignant tumor is a group of cancer cells that may grow into (invade) surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to distant areas of the body. Breast cancer occurs mainly in women, but men can get it, too. Many people do not realize that men have breast tissue and that they can develop breast cancer.

Normal breast structure

To understand breast cancer, it helps to have some basic knowledge about the normal structure of the breasts.
The breast is made up mainly of lobules (milk-producing glands in women), ducts (tiny tubes that carry the milk from the lobules to the nipple), and stoma (fatty tissue and connective tissue surrounding the ducts and lobules, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels).
Until puberty (usually around 13 or 14), young boys and girls have a small amount of breast tissue consisting of a few ducts located under the nipple and are Ola (area around the nipple). At puberty, a girl's ovaries make female hormones, causing breast ducts to grow, lobules to form at the ends of ducts, and the amount of stroma to increase. In boys, hormones made by the testicles keep breast tissue from growing much. Men's breast tissue has ducts, but only a few if any lobules.
Like all cells of the body, a man's breast duct cells can undergo cancerous changes. But breast cancer is less common in men because their breast duct cells are less developed than those of women and because their breast cells are not constantly exposed to the growth-promoting effects of female hormones.

The lymph (lymphatic) system

The lymph system is important to understand because it is one of the ways that breast cancers can spread. This system has several parts.
Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped collections of immune system cells (cells that are important in fighting infections) that are connected by lymphatic vessels. Lymphatic vessels are like small veins, except that they carry a clear fluid called lymph (instead of blood) away from the breast. Lymph contains tissue fluid and waste products, as well as immune system cells. Breast cancer cells can enter lymphatic vessels and begin to grow in lymph nodes.
Most lymphatic vessels in the breast connect to lymph nodes under the arm. Some lymphatic vessels connect to lymph nodes near the breast bone (internal mammary nodes) and either above or below the collarbone.

It's important to know if the cancer cells have spread to lymph nodes. If they have, there is a higher chance that the cells could have gotten into the bloodstream and spread (metastasized) to other sites in the body. This is important to know when you are choosing a treatment. The more lymph nodes with breast cancer cells (positive lymph nodes), the more likely it is that the cancer might be found in other organs as well. Still, not all men who have positive lymph nodes develop metastases, and in some cases a man can have negative lymph nodes and later develop metastases.

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