Breast cancer in men may be rare, but it happens

Breast cancer usually happens to women. In fact, the American Cancer Society said that one out of eight women suffers from breast cancer worldwide.

But men are not immune to breast cancer. Yes, it may be rare, but it happens. The same organization noted that one out of 1,000 men develops breast cancer.

One of them is Ernesto Petil.

It all started with just a "mere insect bite." Little did he know then that it was the first sign of breast cancer.

"Iyong pagkaalam ko, kinagat lang ng ipis or whatever na insekto. Pinabayaan ko pa rin. Hanggang noong napapansin ko nagkaka-kulani na sa may kili-kili," he said in a report on GMA News TV's "News To Go" on Wednesday. 

However, Petil was not surprised when the doctor confirmed that he had breast cancer. It was in his genes. His sisters also suffered from the disease. In 2013, the mass was removed from his chest.

But it has already spread to his lungs and brain. This means he needs another series of treatments.

"Kung may nagmamagandang loob na nanawagan ako. Kailanga ko kasi ang medication kasi nasabi sa akin na ang chemotherapy, sabi sa akin ng doktor, isang milyon," he added.  




According to the American Cancer Society, since men have breast tissue, they can also develop breast cancer.

Although breast cancer is common among women, men may only learn they have the disease at a later stage. Lack of awareness is one of the reasons why.

Just like Petil, many men may ignore possible warning signs such as lumps and changes in their chest. This could delay diagnosis, the American Cancer Soceity said. Thus, the mass will have a chance to grow.

Here are some signs of breast cancer in men:

    A lump or swelling, usually (but not always) painless
    Skin dimpling or puckering
    Nipple retraction (turning inward)
    Redness or scaling of the nipple or breast skin
    Discharge from the nipple


A breast cancer may also spread to lymph nodes under the arm or around the collar bone and cause a lump or swelling.

"Sa lalaki kasi hindi siya common so parang walang recommended screenings for males. Ang lalaki wala namang breast eh. So kung may tutubo sa chest wall nila, makakapa nila agad-agad," oncologist Dr. Ma. Cecilia Pagdanganan pointed out.

Women should still be alarmed

Although breast cancer do exist in men, women are still the main targets of the disease. In fact, breast cancer is so common in women that most, if not all, studies into the causes, prevention, and treatment of the disease are done with women as case studies.

Hurdling out of breast cancer has never been easy. To help others who are battling this disease, breast cancer survivor Christina Terado has been teaching arts and crafts to those undergoing chemotherapy.

"Nagdasal ako para bibigyan ako ng gabay na mapapagtutuunan ko ng pansin para hindi ko maisip ang sakit ko. Nagtuturo na ako sa cancer patients and iba pang grupo kasi nagiging creative kami at saka positibo kami sa buhay," she said.

Pagdanganan recommended women to undergo a mammogram every other year when they hit 40 years of age until they turn 49 years old—even when they don't see any warning signs.

And when cancer hits, Terado has some words of courage: "Kailangan talagang lumaban ka." — Trisha Macas/BM, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Exercise tied to prostate cancer survival

Among men with prostate cancer, those who lead active lifestyles have better survival rates than those who don’t, a new study suggests.

There are many benefits to being physically active, but the new results suggest there are “specific effects also on the survival among prostate cancer patients,” said the study's lead author Stephanie Bonn of the Stephanie Bonn.

“There is great potential for men diagnosed with prostate cancer to improve their own survival by being physically active,” she wrote in an email to Reuters Health.

In the US alone, about 210,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year and about 28,000 die of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Previous studies have found links between physical activity and survival in cancer patients, but few looked at prostate cancer, Bonn and her colleagues write in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

For the new study, they analyzed data on 4,623 men from Sweden diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer between 1997 and 2002. The information included details on the men's physical activity levels and general health until 2012.

Overall, the men who walked or biked daily for at least 20 minutes after their diagnosis had a 39 percent decreased risk of dying from prostate cancer and a 30 percent decreased risk of dying from any cause, compared to those who were less active.

For example, each year, among every 1,000 men who walked or biked at least 20 minutes a day, there were about 23 deaths from any cause, compared to about 38 deaths among every 1,000 men who exercised less.

Additionally, for every 1,000 men who exercised for an hour or more per week, there were about 21 deaths from any cause per year, compared to about 34 deaths among every 1,000 of those who exercised less.

The results were consistent regardless of the type of treatment the men received for their prostate cancer, Bonn said.

“However, our results apply to men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer and only those men who were still alive a number of years after their diagnosis were included in the study,” she said, adding that it most likely excludes men with more aggressive prostate cancers.

The new study can’t prove that more exercise extended the men's lives, but Bonn said it would be interesting to conduct a trial to measure the long-term and short-term effects of physical activity on prostate cancer.

The researchers say the association between exercise and prostate cancer could be related to hormones, fat tissue or inflammation. They plan to further investigate the exact mechanisms.

“At the moment we are working with a large study where men have donated both biological samples, and responded to a lifestyle questionnaire where physical activity was assessed in detail,” Bonn said. “We will study how different types of physical activity and also body weight may impact both the risk of prostate cancer as well as survival.” — Reuters