Breast cancer is a common malignancy in women, but men can also be diagnosed with breast cancer. Male breast cancer accounts for less than 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses, and 8 out of 10 cases of breast cancer in men are invasive ductal carcinomas.1 The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 2620 new cases of invasive breast cancer in men will be diagnosed in 2020 and approximately 520 men will die from the disease.2 How much do you know about male breast cancer?
Male breast cancer is a very rare malignancy that affects approximately 1 in 833 men, and rates of incidence and mortality are much lower than female breast cancer.1,2 The pathology of male breast cancer is similar to the pathology of female breast cancer, and lymph node involvement and hematogenous patterns of spread are also similar among these 2 types of breast cancer as well.3 The disease is approximately 100 times less common in white men than in white women, and 70 times less common in Black men than in Black women.2 The 5-year overall survival rate for men with breast cancer is 84% for all stages combined; 96% for localized breast cancer; 83% for regional breast cancer; and 22% for distant breast cancer.2 Public awareness of the disease needs to become a priority to increase survival rates, reduce incidence rates, and improve patient quality of life.
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