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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTo determine your male breast cancer treatment options, your doctor considers your cancer's stage, your overall health and your preferences. Male breast cancer treatment often involves surgery and may also include other treatments.
Surgery
The goal of surgery is to remove the tumor and surrounding breast tissue. Surgical procedures used to treat male breast cancer include:
- Surgery to remove your breast tissue. During a simple mastectomy, your surgeon removes all of your breast tissue — the lobules, ducts, fatty tissue, and a strip of skin with the nipple and areola.
- Surgery to remove your breast tissue and surrounding lymph nodes. Most men with breast cancer undergo a modified radical mastectomy. In this procedure, a surgeon removes all of your breast tissue and some underarm (axillary) lymph nodes. Your lymph nodes are tested to see if they contain cancer cells. Removing your lymph nodes increases your risk of serious arm swelling (lymphedema).
- Surgery to remove one lymph node for testing. During a sentinel lymph node biopsy, your doctor identifies the lymph node most likely to be the first place your cancer cells would spread. That lymph node is removed and tested for cancer cells. If no cancer cells are found in that lymph node, there is a good chance that your breast cancer hasn't spread beyond your breast tissue.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams, such as X-rays, to kill cancer cells. During radiation therapy for male breast cancer, radiation comes from a large machine that moves around your body, directing the energy beams to precise points on your chest.
In male breast cancer, radiation therapy may be used to eliminate any remaining cancer cells in the breast, chest muscles or armpit after surgery.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy treatment often involves receiving two or more drugs in different combinations. These may be administered through a vein in your arm (intravenously), in pill form or by both methods.
Your doctor may recommend chemotherapy after surgery to kill any cancer cells that may have spread outside your breast. Chemotherapy may also be an option for men with advanced breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast.
Hormone therapy
Some breast cancers rely on your body's hormones for fuel. If your doctor determines that your cancer uses hormones to help it grow, you may be offered hormone therapy. Most men with male breast cancer have hormone-dependent tumors. Hormone therapy for male breast cancer often involves the medication tamoxifen.
Targeted therapy
Targeted therapies attack specific abnormalities within cancer cells. Targeted therapy drugs attack breast cancer cells by:
- Targeting cells that make too much of a certain protein. Some breast cancer cells produce a protein called HER2 that helps cancer cells grow and survive. Medications to target this protein include trastuzumab (Herceptin) and lapatinib (Tykerb).
- Targeting signals that help tumors grow blood vessels. Tumors grow blood vessels to get the oxygen and nutrients that help the cancer cells survive. The drug bevacizumab (Avastin) stops cancer cells from sending out the signals that cause new blood vessels to form. Research suggests that although this medication may help slow the growth of breast cancer, it doesn't appear to increase survival times. For this reason, bevacizumab isn't approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat breast cancer. But doctors may prescribe it for what's known as off-label use. Use of bevacizumab in breast cancer is controversial.
- Male breast cancer treatment (PDQ) patient version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/malebreast/patient/allpages/print. Accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
- Contractor KB, et al. Male breast cancer: Is the scenario changing. World Journal of Surgical Oncology. 2008;6:58.
- Breast cancer in men. American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_7x_CRC_Male_Breast_Cancer_PDF.asp. Accessed Nov. 30, 2009.
- Mammography. Radiology Info. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=mammo. Accessed Dec. 11, 2009.
- Brain K, et al. Psychological distress in men with breast cancer. American Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2006;24:95.
- Distress management. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/distress.pdf. Accessed Dec. 11, 2009.
- FDA commissioner removes breast cancer indication from Avastin label. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/ucm279485.htm. Accessed Nov. 18, 2011.
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