In a recent survey, it was found out that more and more men with breast cancer are opting to remove both breasts, despite having only one breast affected by the disease. As reported in NBC News, proponents of the study found out about this startling news despite evidence that removal surgery doesn't help women with the disease to live longer.
A collaboration report was done by the American Cancer Society and Dana Farber Cancer Institute and it shows that most men who prefer mastectomy are white, younger men with health insurance. The study examined 6,332 men with breast cancer undergoing surgery. Around 3 percent of men diagnosed with breast cancer opted to have the unaffected breast removed, a procedure called contralateral prophylactic mastectomy. This figure had risen to 5.6 percent in 2011 as reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In women, the rate of prophylactic double mastectomy has been constantly rising over the years as well, especially in younger white women who also have insurance coverage. Ahmedin Jemal, vice president of surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and the lead researcher has also difficulty explaining this phenomenon. In an interview with ABC News, he said "It is concerning because there is no really good evidence to the benefit in male breast cancer patients", Jemal said.
He further explained that in women's cases with BRCA gene mutation, they are prone to breast or ovarian cancer, removal of both breasts are highly recommended however no concrete evidence show that this is the same case with men.
Generally, breast cancer is rampant among women, however men are not safe to have this kind of disease although rare. About 2,350 men are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer every year, compared to 231,840 women, according to the American Cancer Society. For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is 1 in 1,000, compared to 1 in 8 for women.
Dr. Robert Shenk, a surgical oncologist at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, said he was surprised by the study's findings because men have a far lower risk of developing breast cancer in their second breast. "It doesn't make sense to me to remove it," Shenk said, assuming that it's possible men may have chosen to remove breast tissue so they appear symmetrical.
Both Shenk and Jemal agreed that more studies are needed for male breast cancer patients to figure out why there has been such a large increase of double mastectomies for men.
