Men should be aware of the risk of breast cancer and although it is rare, seek regular checkups, a doctor in Miaoli County said on Tuesday, after his hospital diagnosed an advanced case of the disease.
A 55-year-old man being treated at Da Chien General Hospital first noticed a small lump near his right nipple about a month ago, said Feng Chi-yen (馮啟彥), head of the hospital’s general surgery department.
The man first reported it to a hospital near his home, which told him it was likely a benign tumor, but he was referred to Da Chien after returning for another check when he noticed the lump had grown larger, Feng said.
An ultrasound scan of the 1cm lump led to a diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer, which had spread to his lymph nodes, Feng said, adding that the man was admitted for a mastectomy that included the removal of the lymph nodes in his armpit.
The man is receiving chemotherapy and hormone therapy, Feng said.
Although the risk of breast cancer in men is 100 times lower than in women, many men with the disease are not diagnosed until the late stages, when the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and other parts of the body, Feng said.
For men, the main risk factors are genetics, smoking, heavy drinking, liver disease and obesity, he added.
Feng advised men, especially those in high-risk groups, to conduct self-examinations for signs of breast cancer and have regular ultrasound scans.
Sixty-eight men in Taiwan were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, compared with 15,834 women, according to an annual report published in December 2018 by the Health Promotion Administration.
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