Learning you have breast cancer can be overwhelming, especially if you didn’t realize men can get it, too. Now you need to learn more about this disease in men, your treatment options and how to live with it.
Although male breast cancer is much, much less common than in women (the National Cancer Institute estimates 2,190 new cases in men vs. 226,870 in women for 2012), word has been spreading that it can and does happen. Information specific to breast cancer in men is also sparse, but it does exist.
We’ve listed some of those resources here. Since it is the same disease that occurs in women, you can also find more information on our regular breast cancer page.
Breast Cancer in Men Overviews
Breast cancer cells don’t care whether they’re growing in a man or a woman (well, mostly; women’s higher estrogen levels do make it easier for some breast cancers to grow). So the overviews listed on our regular breast cancer page will also be useful. But the following sources address some concerns specific to men.
Breast Cancer in Men: This topic from the American Cancer Society covers the normal structure of breast tissue, along with benign and cancerous breast conditions in men.
General Information about Male Breast Cancer: This PDQ (Physician Data Query) from the Naitonal Cancer Institute covers risk factors, symptoms, tests and survival of men with breast cancer.
Male Breast Cancer: This overview is from the Mayo Clinic.
Organizations Devoted to Breast Cancer in Men
Despite the relative rarity of this cancer, there are a few organizations devoted specifically to it. They exist to help spread awareness and/or help patients, survivors and their loved ones cope.
John W. Nick Foundation: This organization bills itself as the oldest male breast cancer foundation in the world. It is dedicated to spreading the word that men get breast cancer too. The website has a lot of information and useful links to use in your research. The foundation also tries to connect patients with mentors to help them feel less alone.
HIS Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation: This foundation and website were created by a brother and sister who both had breast cancer. They had trouble finding good information after the brother was diagnosed. Much of the site is written by the brother, discussing his diagnosis and what he learned on his journey.
Clinical Trials for Breast Cancer in Men
Since it’s rare, there’s also not much research devoted specifically to breast cancer in men. But there are some studies. And you may qualify for more general cancer studies as well.
Always talk with your doctor about your best treatment options and whether or not a clinical trial might be right for you.
Male Breast Cancer Clinical Trials: This links to the ClinicalTrials.gov results page for “male breast cancer.” A few of the studies are specifically into male breast cancer, while others are looking into multiple types of cancer and will include patients with breast cancer. You can narrow these results to include only open studies (checkbox above list) or refine them by geographic area, patient age or other criteria.
Forums and Support for Men With Breast Cancer
As a man with breast cancer, you may be feeling understandably alone. Family and friends want to help, but may have trouble understanding.
On The Male Breast Cancer Forum, from Breastcancer.org, you can find other men who do understand. This site offers multiple forums, each dedicated to different breast cancer-related topics, but this forum is dedicated specifically to the men. Since male breast cancer is so uncommon, it has less activity than many others, but there do seem to be new posts at least weekly.
This seems to be the only forum specific to male breast cancer with any regular activity. We have found others, but many seem to go months without any posts.
HIS Breast Cancer Awareness on Facebook is a useful page you might want to follow for information on staying healthy and coping with your diagnosis.
Other Resources for Men With Breast Cancer
Stories of Hope: Male Breast Cancer Survivor Is Former Caregiver: One man’s story.
Information for Kids About Breast Cancer in Men
If you have children, you’ll eventually need to let them know what’s going on in an age-appropriate way. For resources to help you with that conversation and websites/groups aimed directly at kids dealing with a parent’s cancer diagnosis, see the breast cancer page and our cancer resources for kids page.
Caregiver Resources
If you’re caring for someone with male breast cancer, you need support and understanding, too. Although we haven’t been able to find resources specific to caring for a man with breast cancer, there are many caregiver support groups you can join.
Check out the main breast cancer page for some specific to breast cancer. We also have a general list of resources for caregivers of cancer patients with any diagnosis.