A new website aims to provide information and support to men with breast cancer.
On 20th October 2011, the Royal Society hosted a launch event for Healthtalkonline’s new website which focuses on breast cancer in men.
Breast cancer in British men accounts for one in 150 cases of breast cancer. Despite appearances, men have a small amount of breast tissue behind their nipples where cancer can develop.
The known symptoms and treatments are similar to those for female breast cancer.
Healthtalkonline’s new website aims to address issues raised from research carried out into men’s attitudes and experiences with breast cancer.
The panelists discussed how men’s approach to breast cancer is related to men’s attitudes toward health generally, and how this affects their treatment.
Peter Baker, chief executive of Men’s Health Forum, noted that men are generally less well informed of common cancer symptoms. “An example that demonstrates this very clearly [is] malignant melanoma,” Baker said. “More women than men develop malignant melanoma, but more men than women die… [A] plausible explanation of that is that men are presenting late for treatment.”
Another challenge men with the disease face is the lack of social awareness. This is something described at the launch by Steve McAllister, a patient who shared his experiences of breast cancer. McAllister related the surprise of his pharmacist, who said he had never before issued a man with tamoxifen, the common hormone treatment for breast cancer.
McAllister’s is just one experience, but Professor Kate Hunt and PhD student Caroline Sime, in conjunction with the Health Experiences Research Group, set out to find more.
Their detailed research into men’s experiences of having breast cancer looked at what the prevalence of breast cancer in UK women meant for the male sufferers. In 2008, 47,000 women were diagnosed, while the equivalent number in men was only 341.
The researchers found that this disparity can create an “isolating experience” for male patients who went to look for information on their disease.
To ameliorate this isolation, the new Healthtalkonline website provides detailed multimedia personal accounts of men’s experiences with breast cancer – including McAllister’s. The cancer survivor said that with regard to information for male breast cancer patients, “there was a lot that was not out there at all”.
The busy event was attended by professionals, researchers and a number of male breast cancer patients, and was chaired by the editor of GQ magazine, Dylan Jones.
Picture: Researchers Kate Hunt and Caroline Sime with male breast cancer patients