Male Breast Cancer

Like many types of cancer, male breast cancer risk increases as you age. It’s most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 60 and 70.

High levels of estrogen can put you more at risk for breast cancer. This includes hormone treatments used for prostate cancer or hormone therapy in transgender women.

About 1 in 5 males who get breast cancer have a close male or female relative diagnosed with the condition.

A person’s genetics are a factor in male breast cancer, including genetic mutations like the BRCA gene. Males with a BRCA2 mutation are 100 times more likely to get breast cancer than other men.

People born with Klinefelter's syndrome have an extra X chromosome. This syndrome can affect hormone levels and increase the risk of male breast conditions, including gynecomastia and breast cancer.

When you have certain liver conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver, it can affect the balance of hormones in your body, which increases the risk of male breast cancer.

If you’ve been diagnosed with obesity, you may also have a greater risk of developing male breast cancer. Obesity often increases the levels of estrogen in your body.

Your risk is higher if you’ve had radiation exposure in the chest area—for example, radiation therapy for other cancers.

Conditions that affect the testicles, such as an injury to your testicle, testicle removal or undescended testicles, also increase your risk of male breast cancer.

Chemotherapy uses drugs taken by mouth or injected into the body to help destroy or stop cancer cells from growing. You may have chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, which can be used before or after surgery.

Some types of male breast cancers are affected by the hormones in your body. Hormone therapy removes or blocks hormones to prevent cancer cells from growing. Some standard hormone therapies for male breast cancer are aromatase inhibitors, tamoxifen or luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone antagonist.

Radiation therapy may be recommended along with other male breast cancer treatments. It uses high-intensity rays to target and destroy the cells causing your cancer. A type of therapy called external beam radiation is the most used radiation therapy in breast cancer in men.

Surgical procedures to treat male breast cancer include mastectomy, which removes all of the breast tissue, and lumpectomy, which removes only the tumor and surrounding tissues.

The most common surgical treatment for the condition is modified radical mastectomy. This surgery removes all the breast tissue, including the nipple and skin over the breast tissue and lymph nodes under the arm.

Targeted therapies are customized drugs designed to attack your specific type of breast cancer. Because they are designed to target specific cancer cells, they don’t affect other cells in your body as much as treatments like chemotherapy. Monoclonal antibodies are one of the most common targeted therapies for male breast cancer.