Every year they are diagnosed in Spain over 30 thousand cases of breast cancer. According to data from the Red Española de Registros de Cáncer (Redecan), by 2022 it is estimated that 34,750 cases of this cancer will be diagnosed, it will be the most diagnosed type of cancer this year, according to data collected by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), overcome lung and prostate cancers. These cases will mainly occur in women, in fact the estimates are collected only in this sex.
But the truth is that, although rare, nearly 1% of cases occur in men, as collected from Spanish Breast Cancer Research Group (Geicam). “Of course, recent epidemiological studies show that this incidence is increasing around 1.1% per year and, despite the rarity of the diagnosis, the register de Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) identified in a study published in 2015 an increase in the incidence of this type of breast cancer over the past three decades, ”says Geicam.
The first national breast cancer registry in men is currently underway
It is a rare tumor, with very little data on treatment and follow-up. In fact, the first national register on breast cancer in men is underway to find out the frequency, the most common risk factors, the patient profile, the survival rate … Because with the lack of data there are no factors that lead to a population at risk, which leads to less early diagnosis and a lower survival rate. It is estimated that there is also an increased risk of relapse, but there are no data to confirm this suspicion.
FEW, YOUNG, WITHOUT INFORMATION AND METASTATICS
Mario Soler She was 43 when she noticed a lump near her nipple. For months, however, she paid no attention to it. “I detected it in August, but it was in January when a rib hurt me and I called a GP at home. He told me it looked like a contracture, but he didn’t like what his breasts were like, that he had to go to a specialist, “says the current president of the Association for Male Breast Cancer (SEND) to Consalud.es. It was the first obstacle encountered, which specialist to call?
“My wife was clear about it, gynecologist. He confirmed to me that it was cancer before I even took the test. “He is a man, at the time he was 43 years old and the tumor had reached his bones, with 21 lesions in the bone structure.” I felt a lot of amazement and shock , it couldn’t happen to me. The school books say that breast cancer is specific to women, that men don’t have it, “he points out. What we learn in our early life has a direct impact on our health and about society. Forget it a year more than 300 men are diagnosed with this cancer in our country, and that in many cases the diagnosis comes at an advanced stage.
“80% of male breast cancers are diagnosed in a metastatic stage,” Soler acknowledges
The campaigns against breast cancer, with that pink ribbon that does not correspond to all the situations that derive from this disease, and with a message that stresses over and over again the importance of female self-examination, forgets, year after year, the ‘man. “86% of men those who participated in a survey of the association that we did on Instagram had no idea how to do a self-examination “. And this lack of knowledge is also found in the health sector. “GPs send patients home when they don’t recognize symptoms.”
A lump or retracted nipple They are usually the most frequent manifestations of male breast cancer. According to Geicam data, breast cancer presentation in men is mainly in the form of a painless unilateral palpable mass (in a single breast) with a central subareaolar or eccentric location relative to the areola-nipple complex with early nipple involvement. Many men consider it a ball of fat and ignore it, which delays diagnosis. “Men in general take a long time to get to the doctor, which leads to 80% of male breast cancers it is diagnosed in a metastatic stage, ”Soler acknowledges.
He needed three bone reconstruction operations because the tumor had affected the spine, the sacrum, the bones such as the humerus … Being metastatic, he did not undergo mastectomy, a process that is done only in stages and that affects men less psychologically than women.
Màrius Soler received chemotherapy and radiotherapy, 18 chemo cycles did not work for him, nor did the hormonal treatment. “The result would have been fatal, but luckily a cyclin (CDK) treatment appeared.” It worked and he has been with it for four years. “They are a case of clinical success, but now i had to change because it stopped working. I’m with another treatment ”. Soon she will enter the operating room to remove a lymph node affected by the metastasis. Six years after that unexpected diagnosis, he’s still battling this cancer he was told in school he wouldn’t have.
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