Men in San Antonio who have breast cancer may not be getting the care and attention they need. A study published on September 19 in JAMA Oncology has found that American men are less likely to be considered for clinical trials and don’t receive the same cutting-edge treatments that women with breast cancer receive.
Many diseases provide women with treatments and medications that were predominately tested in men. However, the study found that the opposite is true in those with male breast cancer. An estimated 2,670 men develop breast cancer each year in the U.S. Because so few men develop the disease, many treatments aren’t aimed to treat male breast cancer. The study found that this results in men faring worse than females with the disease.
The study looked at 1.8 million individuals across the United States with breast cancer. Over 16,000 participants in the study were men. After adjusting for clinical predictors, access to care and socioeconomic status, the study found that men had lower survival rates at three years and five years than women. Researchers believe that men need a different course of treatment than women and that more research needs to be devoted to males with breast cancer.
Because men make up less than 1% of breast cancer cases, many doctors don’t know how to properly treat the condition. Additionally, there are no regular screenings for male breast cancer in men. This results in men being diagnosed at a later stage and not receiving access to clinical trials developed for women with the disease. When a doctor fails to offer proper medical diagnosis and care, a medical malpractice case may be warranted. A lawyer could help a patient or the family of a patient file a civil claim against a doctor who failed to diagnose breast cancer promptly.
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