HOUSTON – The American Cancer Society estimates this year that 2,710 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
That means the odds of them being diagnosed are about 100 times less likely than women.
Unfortunately, that also means their cancer can be further along.
Tony Lewis was in his 50s when he was surprised to feel a lump.
“I was working out in my garage and I was doing bands and all of a sudden, I felt like I had a knot in my chest,” he said.
Lewis went to Dr. Kelly Dempsey, a surgeon at Memorial Hermann in Sugar Land, who quickly detected breast cancer.
She said, in men, the disease is mostly progressed by the time they see her since they’re not getting frequent screenings, and it’s almost always in the same spot.
“The male breast tissue is very small and it’s located right behind the nipple, and so when a man comes in and feels something hard like a marble or a nut or a rock right behind the nipple and the areola, it is nine times out of 10 going to be a breast cancer,” Dr. Dempsey explained.
Lewis recovered without needing chemotherapy or radiation. However, he said his sister was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time. That prompted him to test for the BRCA gene, which (if present) can be an indication someone is at a higher risk for breast, ovarian and prostate cancer.
“Both genetic tests said it was not a genetic thing, and both of us were having surgery within a week of each other,” Lewis said.
According to Dr. Dempsey, Lewis and his sister’s cancer was just coincidentally bad luck, not genetic.
However, Dr. Dempsey said it brings up the valid point that men are more likely to have genetic mutation.
“That BRCA gene can affect their daughters and their granddaughters and grandsons, so we want to always make sure that that’s been checked for in men because it is a higher chance for them to carry that gene,” Dempsey said.