This month, Americans across the country will mark National Breast Cancer Awareness Month through stressing greater education and awareness of this devastating disease. Women, their families, and their physicians have made great strides in spreading the word about the importance of early screenings for this disease. But what most men and women don t know is that men can get breast cancer as well. Breast cancer, typically thought of as a woman s disease, affects thousands of men in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 1,600 men are diagnosed with the disease every year, and about 400 die of it.
Men are usually older when diagnosed, and psychological factors often delay effective treatment.
Shyness among men causes them to wait before seeking treatment, says Michael Samuelson, male breast cancer survivor and chairman of the National Center for Health Promotion, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 50. Men need to check themselves early, rather than deferring responsibility to their wives and doctors on matters of health. The treatments are the same as those for female breast cancer, says Linda Frame of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, an international breast cancer foundation based in Dallas, Texas. Chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone treatment are common treatments, along with removal of the breast through mastectomy. Men who have a history of breast cancer in their families are particularly at risk for the disease.