Male Breast Cancer Diagnosis, Treatment Portrayed on "Nip/Tuck"

The Los Angeles Times's Health section runs a column called The Unreal World that keeps tabs on how well medical myths are portrayed on TV.

Breast cancer in men is not a myth. But, explaining who it affects and how male breast cancer is diagnosed and treated can veer from the facts, as the Times points out.

Male breast cancer is the subject of today's The Unreal World column: "'Nip/Tuck' cancer portrayal veers from the facts."

Some of the most interesting facts I gleaned about diagnosing male breast cancer are (1) that a mammography is, in fact, useful in distinguishing between benign and malignant tumors in men and (2) the cancer is likely to appear as calcifications or a white mass. This may seem pretty basic, but much less is known about breast cancer in men than that in women, so it's worth stating.

In the US, almost 1,990 men are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, according to the American Cancer Society, and 450 men die of the disease each year.

Read the full LAT column on breast cancer in men, to learn about mastectomy--the most common treatment for male breast cancer--and other aspects of treatment.

Want to learn more about breast cancer in men? Dr. Kevin Knopf also discusses male breast cancer in his HealthCentral column.