my personal edition > breast cancer > news


  E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

DGReview

Exposure To Electromagnetic Fields, Light At Night May Be Risk Factor For Male Breast Carcinoma

Exposure to electromagnetic fields and duration could affect the risk for male development of breast carcinoma, say Turkish researchers.

Radiologists and oncologists at the Medical School of Ataturk University established a study to assess the epidemiological and aetiological factors relevant to male breast carcinoma in Eastern Europe. They evaluated 196 patients with breast cancer admitted to their regional hospital between 1990 to 2000. Eleven patients (5 percent) were males with an average age at presentation of 60.7 ± 7.5.

The most frequent histopathological type identified was infiltrating ductal carcinoma, with only one case of lobular carcinoma. Seven of the 11 patients had right sided breast carcinoma with the left side affected in the remaining four. Two patients had gynaecomastia.

Risk factors identified included excessive alcohol consumption over 35 years in one patient, a family history in another and exposure to electromagnetic fields and light at night in four patients. Researchers were unable to establish any risk factors in the other three patients.

The youngest patient in the group was 45 years old and had post-pubertal gynaecomastia. The researchers also established an overall male breast carcinoma rate of 0.3 percent among those who had worked for the Turkish Institution of Electricity in eastern Turkey.

The investigators consider that this has demonstrated a close relationship between exposure to electromagnetic fields and light at night with male breast carcinoma in that Turkish area.
European Journal of Cancer Prevention Vol 10 pp 531-534. "Epidemiology and aetiological factors of male breast cancer: a ten years retrospective study in eastern Turkey"

E-Mail this DGReview to a colleague

To print, use this version