How Can Men Get Breast Cancer?
Even though men do not have breasts like women, they do have a small amount of breast tissue. In fact the “breasts” of an adult man are similar to the breasts of a girl before puberty, and consist of a few ducts surrounded by breast and other tissue. In girls, this tissue grows and develops in response to female hormones, but in men — who do not secrete the same amounts of these hormones — this tissue does not develop. However, because it is still breast tissue, men can develop breast cancer. In fact, men get the same types of breast cancers that women do, although cancers involving the milk producing and storing regions of the breast are very rare. According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 2,300 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2009.
