A leading oncologist has called for men to be included in breast cancer trials to help improve treatments for the disease.
Professor Robert Mansel, chair of the 11th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-11) and emeritus professor of Surgery at Cardiff University School of Medicine, made the comment after new research was presented at the event, which was held in Barcelona last week.
Professor Isabel Rubio told delegates at EBCC-11 on Friday that women with HER2 positive breast cancer who were pre-treated with targeted drugs to shrink tumours before surgery could avoid radical surgery.
In response, Prof Mansel said: “These findings could apply to men also, but we just don’t know because men with breast cancer are almost never included in clinical trials.
“We need trials to start including men, so that we can discover whether or not they respond in the same way to targeted treatments as women. They may not, because the hormones involved in the cancer are different, but until this is investigated in trials, we do not know what is the best treatment for them.”
He said the cosmetic result after surgery is important for men.
“At present, men with breast cancer often undergo radical surgery to remove all the cancer, but why should surgeons remove the nipple and the areola, if it’s not necessary?” he asked.
“Men feel self-conscious about how this looks because if they want to swim or go to the beach their chests are uncovered if they wear trunks. They could benefit from more conservative surgery that preserves the nipple and areola.”
Breast cancer in men is 100 times less common in men than women, with a lifetime risk of developing it of about one in 1,000 men.
The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the Breast International Group (BIG) and the North American Breast Cancer Groups are working together to analyse clinical data from a prospective international registry of male breast cancer patients.
It will evaluate the number of patients it is feasible to recruit for a future clinical trial, describe patterns of care, and assess sample collection rate.
“This collaborative approach will be needed to perform reliable clinical trials in men,” said Prof Mansel.
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