When you think of breast cancer, you almost always imagine a woman. However, the disease can also touch men, even if it remains rare. Robert George, a 61-year-old New York humorist, has had bitter experience. In a testimony relayed by Todayhe tells how a sign that he believed in harmless turned out to be breast cancer at stadium 2.
Rare cancer, which must nevertheless be thought of
His mother had already crossed this ordeal, but he never thought he was himself concerned. “It never crossed my mind”he says. Like many men, he associated the word cancer more with lung or prostate.
In addition, the first sign of the disease was not a ball in the chest. In reality, it was an irritation under his left nipple. A light discomfort which he attributes to an embodied hair. “”It was not something that I was aware of on a daily basis. I sometimes noticed it in the shower“He explains.
Her doctor thinks of a small cyst, confirmed by a scanner specialist. But a surgeon prefers to ask for a mammography. Following this examination, a biopsy is carried out and last August, the diagnosis confirms breast cancer. “”It is disturbing, destabilizing. We say to ourselves: I pulled the wrong number “says Robert George, who underwent a mastectomy in September, followed by a withdrawal of the affected nodes.
Male breast cancer: an often late diagnosis
Breast cancer in humans represents less than 1 % of cases. The risk is around 1 in 833, against 1 in 8 for a woman. However, certain factors increase this risk: age, family history, obesity, high estrogen levels, or genetic mutations like BRCA1 and BRCA2.
In France, the average age of diagnosis is 64 years. “”This cancer is spontaneously associated with women ” recognized Hervé Curé, professor of oncology at the “Jean-Godinot Institute in Reims (51), in a previous article.”Faced with a man, doctors still think about it too rarely“.
Result: the diagnosis is often late. Life expectancy at 5 years is 69 % in men, compared to 80 % in women.
The symptoms that should alert are multiple:
- Painless size behind the areola;
- Flow at the nipple level;
- Red or swollen skin;
- Localized pain;
- Nodes under the armpit.
“”It is often after the discovery of a ball in the breast that the patient consults. After the clinical examination, it is then the chain of a suspicious ultrasound, followed by a mammography, which reveals cancer. A breast biopsy will then confirm doubts, by bringing tumor cells typical of breast adenocarcinoma, “explains Hervé Curé.
A biopsy of lymph nodes can also take place. An additional assessment is also carried out. It includes a blood test with dosage of tumor markers and various examinations adapted to each case: scanner, bone scintigraphy, heart balance before starting treatment …
Personalized treatments for each patient
As with women, the management of male breast cancer is based on several medical approaches. Surgery, often a mastectomy, constitutes the first -line treatment.
It can be followed by other complementary therapies: chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormone therapy, intended to reduce the risk of recurrence and eliminate persistent cancer cells.
In some cases, targeted therapies are offered. The specialists insist on the individualized character of each protocol, which depends on the type of tumor, its evolution and the general state of the patient.
After his operation, Robert George went up on stage. With assumed black humor, he talks about his illness to better break the silences. “”Breast cancer is not only the affair of women, or their mothers, sisters, companions “, he insists. In men too, a harmless symptom can hide breast cancer.