Breast Diseases in Older Women and Men

This chapter provides a concise review of methods to detect, evaluate, and treat both benign and malignant diseases of the breast. The relation of key lifestyle risk factors to the development of breast cancer is reviewed. The chapter also discusses the role of screening with use of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination, and mammography to prevent and detect breast cancer. There is also some discussion on the epidemiology and treatment options of malignant breast conditions of older women such as Phyllodes tumor, ductal carcinoma in situ, infiltrating ductal carcinomas, invasive lobular carcinomas, and the breast conditions in older men include gynecomastia and breast cancer. Older patients who are diagnosed of having breast cancers should be treated in a manner similar to their younger counterparts without limiting management and treatment options solely on the basis of age. There are promising implications of genomics research and breast cancer risk and detection for prevention and treatment.