Signs and Symptoms of Male Breast Cancer
Signs and symptoms of male breast cancer by alvis walter
Male breast cancer is a cancer that occurs in the breast tissue of men. Breast cancer is often viewed as a woman’s disease. However, male breast cancer does occur to a significant extent. It is important to know the symptoms of male breast cancer. The disease is more pronounced in elderly men. However, it can occur at any age.
Men diagnosed with male breast cancer are at a good chance for cure if it is detected at an early stage. The symptoms of male breast cancer must not be ignored. A breast lump is the most common symptom. Most cases are diagnosed when the disease has reached an advanced state.
The following are some of the symptoms of male breast cancer:
A lump that is painless in nature
Thickening of the breast tissue
The skin covering the breast undergoes dimpling, puckering, redness, or scaling.
Nipple may turn inward. Redness and scaling is also possible.
Discharge from the nipple
Consult a doctor if signs and symptoms persist.
The causes of male breast cancer are not very clear. Breast cells that grow abnormally are an indicator for male breast cancer. These cells tend to divide more quickly than healthy cells. The cells that accumulate form a tumor that may spread to a nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or other body parts.
All individuals are born with a certain amount of breast tissue. The tissue is comprised of lobules, which are milk-producing glands. The lobules are ducts that transport milk to the nipples. Women develop much more breast tissue during puberty in comparison with men. Men can develop breast cancer due to a small presence of breast tissue.
The following are the types of breast cancer in men:
1. Cancer of the milk ducts: Ductal carcinoma is the most common form of male breast cancer. Almost all male breast cancers originate in the breast ducts.
2. Cancer of the milk-producing glands: Lobular carcinoma is not a common characteristic in men as they have few lobules in the breast tissue.
3. Cancer that spreads to the nipple: In some instances, breast cancer can originate in the ducts but spread to the nipples. This can cause scaly skin around the nipple. This is also known as Paget’s disease.
Genes that increase the risk of breast cancer
In some cases, men inherit genetic mutations from their parents, which increase the risk of breast cancer. A mutation in a specific gene known as BRCA2 can increase the risk of breast and prostrate cancer. Generally, this gene helps in prevention of cancer by the production of proteins that prevent cells from growing abnormally. However, once they undergo mutation their roles change.
Alvis Walter is a cancer consultant and a guide for Male Breast Cancer . To know more information about malignant mesothelioma, Gamma Knife, symptoms of male breast cancer, mesothelioma symptoms, Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Mantle Cell Lymphoma visit www.cancery.com
Article Source: Signs and symptoms of male breast cancer
Black Women Wait Longer for Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment
THURSDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) — Black breast cancer patients have to wait longer for diagnosis and treatment than white patients, regardless of insurance status, a new U.S. study finds.
Researchers from the GW Cancer Institute looked at 581 breast cancer patients who were examined between 1997 and 2009 at seven hospitals and clinics in Washington, D.C. and found that:
- Insured black women and uninsured white women waited more than twice as long to be given a definitive breast cancer diagnosis than insured white women.
- Lack of health insurance slowed the speed of diagnosis among white patients, but having insurance did not lead to quicker diagnosis among insured black women.
- Overall, black patients waited twice as long as white patients to begin treatment after breast cancer diagnosis.
“We thought having health insurance would even the field and that insured black women would have had the same rate of evaluation as insured white women, but that was not the case in our study,” Heather Hoffman, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, said a news release from the school.
The findings highlight the need for improved outreach and other types of assistance for black patients.
“Black women should be the focus of breast cancer screening outreach and follow-up because they experience greater delays in diagnosis and in treatment than white women, regardless of insurance status,” Hoffman said. “We need to determine what other barriers contribute to diagnosis and treatment delays in insured black women and all uninsured women.”
New IPhone App—Breast Health GPS, A very cool tool!
“Breast Health GPS,” Pinpoints Medical Facilities and Provides Access to Latest Research
Belleville, New Jersey – There are IPhone apps for organizing a household budget, planning a vacation, even getting you from point A to point B on New York’s subway, now there’s an app designed to save lives. It’s called Breast Health GPS and it uses the latest technology to help women locate the closest medical facilities providing Mammography and other Breast Health services.
The new IPhone app is free and was developed by the Breast Health & Healing Foundation, (BHH&F) www.breasthealthandhealing.com, a 501(3)(c) non-profit foundation founded by Dr. Kathleen T. Ruddy, a breast cancer surgeon.
Using the Breast Health GPS is easy. Once you’ve downloaded the app onto your IPhone, click on the main icon to reveal medical facilities close to your current location or enter an area code to find a facility anywhere in the U.S. In addition the app contains other important features. Among them is a direction link to the Breast Health and Healing Foundation’s website, an important resource providing critical information about women’s health, Dr Ruddy’s blog and up-to-date information about the progress of breast cancer research that is bringing us closer to finding a cure.
“Now is the time to marshal our resources, refine our approach, and direct our efforts towards finding the underlying cause of the disease,” said Dr. Ruddy, Founder of BHH&F. “The Breast Health GPS is a new weapon in that fight.”
Promoting research is at the core of what BHH&F is all about. The mission of the foundation is to discover the causes of breast cancer and to use that knowledge to prevent the disease. The foundation supports research pursuing the underlying causes of the disease so that some day breast cancer will be thing of the past.
Everyday breast cancer claims the lives of scores of women around the globe. It’s estimated that in 2010 more than 1.3 million women worldwide will contract the disease and tens of thousands will die from it. Despite tens of millions spent on research the epidemic continues to grow and grim statistics remain a reality
To download the Breast Health GPS app onto your IPhone you’ll need an ITunes account and be connected to the internet. From your IPhone go to the App Store, enter “Breast Health GPS” in the search bar. Once the App appears click the download button to begin the installation process. Once you download an application it’s immediately installed on your IPhone.
About the Breast Health & Healing Foundation
The Breast Health & Healing Foundation is a 501(3)(c)tax exempt non-profit foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to discover the specific causes of breast cancer and to use that knowledge to prevent the disease.
Are We Loosing Ground?
For the first few month this year we have been hearing that the changing guidelines for mammograms is causing a drop in women requesting or receiving mammograms. The following article is just one of many that have come out. Are we loosing ground in our fight declaring that Early Detection Saves Lives? What do you think?
Changing Guidelines Cause Drop in Mammograms
Tuesday, 02 March 2010 08:43 | 
| Modalities – Mammography |
The new survey shows, In some states, access to mammograms for women ages 40 to 49 has decreased since new breast cancer screening ( mammography ) guidelines by U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
The task force recommended that women at average risk for breast cancer should start having mammograms every two years at age 50 instead of annual screenings starting at age 40.
The online survey of more than 150 breast cancer health educators and providers in 48 states and the District of Columbia, conducted by the Avon Foundation for Women, found that respondents from a fourth of the areas surveyed reported changes in their states’ early detection programs for breast and cervical cancer.
The respondents said that the task force guidelines and other factors, including budget cuts, have resulted in fewer women having mammograms or the elimination of early breast cancer screening programs for women younger than 50 offered through state-administered breast cancer screening ( mammography ) programs.
California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan and New York are among the states that have made changes in their state’s breast cancer screening programs since the release of the guidelines.
“We are concerned that some women may simply accept the new recommended guidelines as standard — not taking into consideration their own health history and other breast cancer risk factors,” Marc Hurlbert, director of the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade, said in a news release from the foundation.
The survey, conducted in early February, found that 24 percent of respondents said there’s been a decrease in the number of women younger than 50 being screened or seeking appointments for mammography screening at their facilities. Many women who were already reluctant to have a mammogram are using the new guidelines to put off breast cancer screening, according to some of the respondents.
Source: Avon Foundation for Women
Could freezing tumors be a new treatment for Breast Cancer?
What are your thoughts on this process?
Freezing helps stop breast cancer’s spread in mice,
U-M study finds: Clinical trial open now to evaluate
technique in humans
By Kalamazoo Gazette staff
March 11, 2010, 8:00AM
ANN ARBOR — Rapid freezing of breast cancer in mice kills the cancer in its place and helps stop its spread, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Based on these results, the researchers are now conducting a clinical trial in which they use the rapid freezing technique in humans with breast cancer, the center reported in a news release on the study.
The rapid freezing appears to generate an immune response that helps stop the cancer’s spread, leading to improved survival rates over surgery, the researchers say.
The study looked at two cryoablation techniques, which both involve applying a cold probe to a tumor to freeze it. One method freezes the tumor in about 30 seconds. The other freezes it more slowly, taking a few minutes.
Both techniques successfully killed the breast tumor, but the mice treated with the rapid freeze had fewer tumors that spread to the lungs and improved survival compared to mice treated with surgery alone or with the slower freezing technique.
Cryoablation is currently used routinely for prostate cancer, kidney cancer and a variety of cancers that have spread to the liver and bone, according to the U-M news release.
“Cryoablation has strong potential as a treatment for breast cancer,” said lead study author Dr. Michael Sabel, associate professor of surgery at the U-M Medical School. “Not only does it appear effective in treating the primary tumor, with little cosmetic concerns, but it also may stimulate an immune response capable of eradicating any cells that have traveled throughout the body, reducing both local and distant recurrence, similar to giving a breast-cancer vaccine.”
Results of the mice study appear online in Annals of Surgical Oncology.
All participants in the human trial will be treated three to four weeks after cryoablation with standard surgery to remove their breast-cancer tumors. For more information about this study, call the U-M Cancer AnswerLine at (800) 865-1125.
© 2010 MLive.com. All rights reserved.
Breast Cancer Doesn’t Know Race, Religion, or Ethnicity!
Public release date: 10-Mar-2010
Contact: Jeremy Moore
jeremy.moore@aacr.org
267-646-0557
American Association for Cancer Research
Breast cancer incidence among Iraqi women profiled
DEAD SEA, Jordan — Breast cancer continues to rise in Iraq, and scientists have established the Iraqi National Cancer Research Program to better understand the underlying molecular and environmental causes in an effort to curb the incidence of cancer.
“Breast cancer is the most common type of malignancy recorded in the cancer registries of almost all countries within the Eastern Mediterranean Region. In Iraq, the continuous rise in the incidence rate is associated with an obvious trend to affect premenopausal women,” said Nada A.S. Alwan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Breast Cancer Research Unit at Baghdad University Medical College and the executive director of the newly established Iraqi National Cancer Research Program.
Alwan presented early data at the second AACR Dead Sea International Conference on Advances in Cancer Research: From the Laboratory to the Clinic, held March 7-10, 2010.
The Iraqi National Cancer Research Program was organized by the Iraqi minister of higher education and scientific research in 2009 in collaboration with the common secretariat for the Council of Ministers and the Iraqi Parliament.
“This project includes within its objectives comprehensive epidemiologic studies on risk factors of the main encountered cancers in Iraq, with a focus on the characteristics and behaviors of cancer in patients inhabiting different geographic areas,” said Alwan.
The current study focused on 721 of 5,044 women who complained of breast lumps later diagnosed as cancer. Approximately one-third of the diagnosed patients were between 40 and 49 years old; 71.9 percent came from urban areas and 75 percent were married.
History of lactation was reported in 63.1 percent of the women and 29 percent had taken hormone therapy. A family history of breast cancer was reported in 16.2 percent of cases.
Although 90.6 percent of women detected a lump on self-examination, only 32 percent sought medical advice within the first month. Because of this, 47 percent of them presented with advanced stage breast cancer, either stage III or IV cancer. The main histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma of grade 2 in 56.6 percent and grade 3 in 39.9 percent. Estrogen-receptor positive tumors were noted in 65.1 percent of the cases and progesterone-receptor positive tumors were noted in 45.1 percent of the cases.
“We are currently planning to use this information to compare the demographic characteristics, clinicopathological presentations and management outcomes of breast cancer patients within selected countries in the Middle East,” said Alwan.
Bras and Cancer
Bras and Cancer
Q. Is there any truth to the Internet rumor that the incidence of breast cancer is more than 100 times greater in women who always wear bras than in women who never wear bras?
A. “The short answer is no,” Dr. Ted Gansler, director of medical content for the American Cancer Society, replied in an e-mail message.
There is no scientifically credible evidence of this, he said, and the proposed mechanism — that bras prevent elimination of toxins by blocking lymph flow — is not in line with scientific concepts of how breast cancer develops.
Internet traffic on the issue is mostly inspired by one study with several scientific flaws, Dr. Gansler said. The study, never published in a peer-reviewed journal, did not adjust for known breast cancer risk factors that might be associated with bra-wearing behavior, like weight and age. Also, study participants knew the hypothesis before taking the survey.
“Because the idea of bras’ causing breast cancer is so scientifically implausible, it seems unlikely that researchers will ever spend their time and resources to test it in a real epidemiological study,” Dr. Gansler said.
He and colleagues compared National Cancer Institute data on breast cancer risk for women treated for melanoma who had several underarm lymph nodes removed and those who did not. The surgery, which is known to block lymph drainage from breast tissue, did not detectably increase breast cancer rates, the study found, meaning that it is extremely unlikely that wearing a bra, which affects lymph flow minimally if at all, would do so.
C. CLAIBORNE RAY
New Year! New Drama Free Zone!
I’m back! Or so I think! I must apologize for not writing as often as I should. So let me explain. You see, what had happened was…..a little thing called writers block! Well, not such a little thing, actually it was a major thing! And when it happens to me, it can last for quite a while. We all made it through the holidays with almost all of our faculties intact and now it’s a new year! Yea!!!! I don’t know about you, but I have high hopes for this year. The last few years have been full of change and more change, to acceptance. So this year it’s time to break out and dust off all the crap that kept us from fulfilling, living life to it’s fullest, learning to say “no” sometimes, and the biggie…drama! I have declared my life both person and professionally, a Drama Free Zone!
But (you know there is always a but!) there is something about the start of a new year that brings out all of the hope one can muster. This year I made plans for the year and I started off on the run, vowing to stay on task and not waste any time. So far, so good. I cleaned house on many things in my life in order to simplify and have less drama! But even the best of plans can sometimes go a little off track! The first week of my new year, new Drama Free Zone came with Drama! At the very site of it, I professed, oh h*%^^ no! Not here, this is a DRAMA FREE ZONE! GET OUT! Surprisingly it worked. So I think I had a light bulb moment…I think I screamed so loudly that even the universe took notice and drama promptly tucked it’s tale and when about it’s business. Oh, I’m sure it will try to return, but it better be ready, because this is a DRAMA FREE ZONE and we are not playing that game this year!
So how about you? How’s your health? Have you declared a Drama Free Zone in your life? If not try it, you’ll get that same euphoric feeling that comes with setting boundaries, you’ll feel in control of your life! And, that’s a great feeling!
I’d love to know how you’re taking control this year of your health and well being so please share! Talk again soon!
LL
Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Inflammatory Breast Cancer
by: James Pendergraft
It is critical for women to make sure that they are always in good health. However, there are plenty of potential problems that lurk in the background that can victimize women anytime. One of the most dreaded diseases that is a threat to women is inflammatory breast cancer.
The mention of the term “breast cancer” is already enough to make most women cringe at the haunting difficulties that the disease brings. Because the disease is a known killer in women, it becomes very important to try to avoid it, or if affected already, to endeavor at minimizing the symptoms that one may feel.
What is Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
Inflammatory breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that is characterized with the breasts looking red and swollen. The cancer can attack women at any age. What is more alarming is that unlike the regular breast cancer or other breast-related problems, the disease is not characterized by lumps. This characteristic makes detection of the disease very difficult because it cannot be detected by mammography or ultrasound.
The Symptoms of Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Inflammatory breast cancer is known to be an aggressive type of breast cancer. In the disease, the cancer cells blocks the lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. The disease got its name from the inflammation that is exercised by the breasts, resulting in the reddish color. The disease is known to manifest itself in as quick a time frame as overnight.
The following are the symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer:
* The breast becomes harder or firmer.
* The affected breast is warmer compared to the unaffected one.
* There is an itching on the affected breast.
* The lymph nodes swell, especially under the arm or in the neck area.
* The breasts may have bruises that do not heal.
* A sudden and unexplained swelling of the breast.
* Pain in the affected breast.
* The reddened area in the affected breast is characterized by the thickness and the texture of orange.
* There are skin changes on the affected breast.
Inflammatory breast cancer is also classified into three stages. This is to make treatment better: The symptoms characteristic to a particular stage requires the kind of treatment fit for an infection in that stage.
* Stage 3B: In this stage, the cancer has spread to the tissues nearest to the breast, especially in the chest wall.
* Stage 3C: This means that the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the collarbone. It also means infection to areas near the neck as well as under the arms.
* Stage 4. This is the most advanced stage of the cancer. In this stage, the infection has spread to other organs like the lungs and liver. It may have spread also to the bones.
Treatment of Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Chemotherapy is still the best means to kill the cancer. This is commonly done before surgery. On the other hand, other methods include radiation therapy to kill the cancer cells. Because radiation therapy is more specific in targeting the cancer cells, it is now gaining popularity fast as a good method for treating the cancer.
Breast Health: A Chocolate Lovers Dream
I am a professed choco-holic! I could have chocolate morning, noon and night and never get tired of it. I especially like dark chocolate and cocoa. Well, turns out Chocolates containing over 70% cocoa provide a number of antioxidants, and much more. In fact, a square of dark chocolate contains twice as many as a glass of red wine and almost as many as a cup of green tea properly steeped. These molecules slow the growth of cancer cells and limit the blood vessels that feed them. So go ahead and have that square of “dark chocolate” daily guilt free! 
