Breast Cancer Risk in Men: BRCA1 and BRCA2 Genetic Mutations

Breast cancer is still a leading cause of health concern in women. For men, however, when there is a risk for breast cancer, often, the pre-screening opportunities are missed. Since men rarely consider themselves at risk for breast cancer, even when there is a family history of breast cancer, physicians must ask about these familial risks during examination.

Men who are diagnosed with breast cancer often report they had a family member, such as a grandmother, mother or sister who was also diagnosed with breast cancer. With much research focusing on the familial link to breast cancer, both men and women are, today, encouraged to be screened when considered to be "at-risk".

When considering genetic screening for breast cancer, you will want to talk about specific genes that are believed to be associated with breast cancer development. In men, just like women, the risk for breast cancer is significantly increased when there is a mutation of genes BRCA1 or BRCA2.

If your genetic screening shows that you carry either the BRCA1 or the BRCA1 genetic mutation, there is some risk for breast cancer development. However, if you carry both BRCA1 and BRCA2, the risk is profoundly increased, often resulting in further screening and management by a healthcare professional.

Early screening and management of your breast cancer risk, as a man, will generally involve the encouragement and direction in how to perform monthly breast self-examinations, with annual examinations by a physician, starting as young as your early 20s. Ultrasound examinations may also be considered but, generally, are deferred until around age 40 when the development of breast cancer in men is profoundly increased.

Genetic screening for breast cancer does not mean, as a man, that you will require some radical form of treatment if you are shown to carry either, or both, of the breast cancer genetic mutations. What the genetic breast cancer screening will do is provide both you and your physician will some diagnostic information to gauge your degree at risk for developing male-pattern breast cancer and then begin the process for diligent surveillance.