Men Are Not Large Women

We have said all semester “women are not small men” because we understand that the scientific community tends to group the two sexes into similar boxes when it comes to research, but that shouldn’t be the case. Women and men are different. Generally, there is a lack of research for women, however, there is also a lack of research for men when it comes to breast cancer. So is it safe to say that men are not large women?

Male breast cancer (MBC) accounts for one percent of all breast cancer (Yu, Yang, Yu, Zou, & Miao, 2015). The most common form of MBC is hormone-receptor positive breast cancer, meaning that estrogen and/or progesterone is signaling to these cancer cells to grow (Yu et al., 2015). This is also more common in males than females (Yu et al., 2015). Recommended treatment is hormone therapy, yet less men receive hormone therapy than women. Kiluk et al. (2011) stated that because MBC is rare, treatment guidelines weren’t well established. This is supported by Wang et al. (2019) who found that about 2/3 of men received the recommended endocrine therapy, while over 90 percent of women received the same therapy. Similarly, another study found that endocrine therapy should’ve been recommended to all 62 patients with hormone-receptor positive MBC, but only 57 cases were offered this therapy and only 51 patients actually agreed to it (Kiluk et al., 2011). Why didn't they receive the same treatment for the same diagnosis?

Although breast cancer is rare in men, they still deserve the same research opportunities and treatment guidelines that will work for their sex. Men tend to be diagnosed at a later age and have a poorer prognosis (Wang et al., 2019). This may be possibly due to less screening, later detection, compliance with treatment, or another biological factor that we have not found or understood yet (Kiluk et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2019). It is up to us, as future healthcare providers, to ensure there is equality in research to better take care of all our patients.

References

Kiluk, J. V., Lee, M. C., Park, C. K., Meade, T., Minton, S., Harris, E., … Laronga, C. (2011). Male breast cancer: management and follow-up recommendations. The Breast Journal, 17(5), 503–509. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1111/j.1524-4741.2011.01148.x

Wang et al. (2019). Overall mortality after diagnosis of breast cancer in men vs women. JAMA Oncology, 5(11):1589-1596. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.2803.

Yu, X.-F., Yang, H.-J., Yu, Y., Zou, D.-H., & Miao, L.-L. (2015). A Prognostic Analysis of Male Breast Cancer (MBC) Compared with Post-Menopausal Female Breast Cancer (FBC). Plos One, 10(8), e0136670. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1371/journal.pone.0136670