Asiaone Feature “Not just women: What you may not know about breast cancer in men”

Every October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which aims to encourage women, especially older women, to go for regular mammograms to detect the possibility of breast cancer. What you may not know is that breast cancer is not exclusive to women; men can get it too.

In this article, Dr. Tan Chuan Chien, head, division of breast and endocrine surgery at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital shared that “breast cancer in men accounts for about one per cent of all diagnosed breast cancer patients”. The symptoms are similar in both sexes — a lump that can be felt in the breast, abnormal bloody nipple discharge or nipple retraction.”

Treatment options do not vary between men and women and is dependent on the stage of cancer. Through his experience of seeing male breast cancer patients, it is common that “surgeons tend to recommend removal of entire breast (mastectomy) for men as preservation of breasts is not usually an issue for them.”

Read the full article by AsiaOne here.