Men get breast cancer, too
James Barry was only half-awake when he got up one morning, took off his shirt and scratched his chest. He was startled when he felt something odd.
“I’m always scratching myself and got up one morning and started scratching my chest and noticed this big lump beside my nipple,” recalls Barry.
The McKeesport resident, who was 69 at the time, acted immediately.
“I called my doctor, and he checked me out and wanted me to get a mammogram,” Barry said. “I had the mammogram, a biopsy, and two weeks from the day I discovered it, they operated on me.”
That surgery was to remove a breast cancer tumor. It’s not common, but men can and do develop breast cancer. While only 2,500 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the United States, the number is 266,000 among women.
Men have a one in 1,000 chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime.
Barry’s oncologist, Dr. Maricel Castaner with Allegheny Health Network’s Cancer Institute, said men occasionally do get it, especially men who have family history of breast cancer.
“Some patients have the BRCA gene mutation, and we see it clustered in families that have a sister or mother who have breast cancer. Any man who has a lump should get checked out,” said Castaner. “In (Barry’s) case, he saw his lump, had surgery and we checked him for any mutations and to see if he carried that gene.”
Castaner said it’s more common for men who have the BRCA gene to actually develop prostate rather than breast cancer. Barry got genetic testing, which showed that he does not carry the BRCA gene, something he was happy to learn since he has four children and nine grandchildren.
Barry had surgery and test results showed his cancer was caught at an early stage. The operation removed all of his breast tissue and the nipple on one side. Since tests on his lymph nodes came back clear, he didn’t have to undergo radiation or chemotherapy. He now takes the drug Tamoxifen, which can block the effect of the hormones estrogen and progesterone that can promote the growth of some tumors.
He also gets an annual mammogram on the other side of his chest.
“Men normally don’t need mammograms,” said Castaner. “Because they have a smaller amount of breast tissue, they can feel a lump easier.”
She said that’s one reason why male breast cancer cases are often caught early.
“It’s treated basically the same way,” said Castaner. “Once a male gets a diagnosis, then we normally have them do yearly mammograms of the other breast. In women, we can do a lumpectomy, but men normally get a mastectomy.”
There’s not enough breast tissue left now for a mammogram on the side where Barry had surgery, but he gets the other side checked each year.
As for the uncommon diagnosis of male breast cancer, Barry said he wasn’t shocked because he knew men could develop it.
“When I went to the clinic the first time, there were all of these women there and then me,” he laughed. “Right before I left, another man came in.”
He also adds that he wasn’t really all that surprised during his biopsy.
“I could see the nurse’s faces and they were all concerned, so I thought I had cancer,” he said.
Cancer runs in his family, with relatives dying from lung cancer and leukemia – but not breast cancer.
Now 73, Barry said having one nipple removed and a few scars doesn’t bother him at all. He maintains a positive attitude, even now that he has been diagnosed with another form of cancer.
Castaner is treating him for neuroendicrine cancer in the lymph nodes of his stomach along with a tumor.
“The doctor said it’s very slow-moving and will probably take a long time to affect me,” Barry said.