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Gynecomastia There are many lethal diseases that affect the human species. Doctors fight every day to save lives, and research is being done to find cures for them. Fortunately there are other diseases that are not life threatening, but they do cause discomfort and suffering. Some diseases affect only women, and some affect only men. Gynecomastia is a disease that affects only males. Gynecomastia is a common disease that occurs only in males, and it is generally a bilateral and symmetrical anatomical abnormality of male breast maturation.
Due to endocrine hormone abnormalities, the process most often occurs with no apparent cause in adolescent or fully matured males. A great number of patients who suffer from this disease have a disturbance in the proper ratio of androgen and estrogen levels. The normal ratio of the two hormones in plasma is approximately 100: 1. For a male to get this disease there must be an imbalance in the hormones. When gynecomastia takes place, there is increased estrogen stimulation, decreased testosterone levels, or some alteration of the estrogen and androgen so that the androgen-estrogen ratio is decreased. Generally there are three areas that can be attributed to the cause of gynecomastia.
The three areas are physiologic, pathologic and pharmacologic. Enlargement of the male breast can be a normal physiologic phenomenon at certain stages of life, or the result of several pathologic states. In the case of physiologic gynecomastia, the disease can occur in a newborn baby, at puberty, or at any time in a man s life. In the newborn, temporary enlargement of the breast is due to the action of maternal and placental estrogen. The enlargement usually disappears within a few weeks. Adolescent gynecomastia is common during puberty with the starting age of 14.
It regresses so that by the age of 20 only a small number of men have evident remains of gynecomastia in one or both of the breasts. Gynecomastia also occurs in otherwise healthy men. Forty percent of aged men have gynecomastia. One explanation is that the increase in age causes the conversion of androgen to estrogen to turn into extra-glandular tissues. Drug therapy and abnormal liver functioning can also be causes of gynecomastia in older men. When the disease is pathologic the patient can have increased estrogen secretions, increased conversion of androgen to estrogen, or decreased androgen activity due to a failure in protein receptors.
Increased estrogen secretions are found in such diseases and disorders as Kleinfelter s syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, adrenal carcinoma or testicular tumors. Increased conversion of androgen to estrogen can happen in such diseases as adrenal carcinoma, liver disorders, malnutrition and thyroid toxicosis. Decreased androgen activity can be found in complete testicular feminization, incomplete testicular feminization and Reifenstein s syndrome Many drugs can cause gynecomastia by several means. The drugs can either act directly as estrogen, or cause an increase in plasma estrogen levels. Boys and young men are particularly sensitive to estrogen, and can develop gynecomastia after the use of dermal ointments containing estrogen, or after the ingestion of milk or meat from estrogen-treated animals. Some examples of drugs that may cause gynecomastia include drugs in the categories of Cannabinoids, Psychotropics, Antihypertensives, Gastrointestinal, Antituborculous, and Hormonal.
There are very few signs and symptoms that are associated with this disease. Signs may appear at any time in a male s life, although the most common time is during puberty. At the first indication of the disease the patient will feel pain and tenderness in the breast area due to the rapid development of the breast. The breasts grow because of the enlargement of the glandular tissue. To treat this disease the patient can undergo androgen replacement therapy that will produce dramatic improvement. The treatment selected for this disease is related to how the patient was affected by the disease.
The treatment for a person, who contracted the disease through certain drug use, will be treated different from a person who is affected from a related disease. If gynecomastia is contracted through drug use, the patient will need to discontinue the medications that are associated with the disease. When all other treatments fail, surgery is the only other option. Gynecomastia is found only in males, and the signs can appear any time in a male s lifetime.
It is the leading breast disorder in males and it accounts for 60 % of all disorders of the male breast. About 85 % of male breast masses are due to gynecomastia. Forty percent of the cases affect pubescent boys occurring most often between the ages of 14 to 16. Approximately 40 % of normal men, and up to 70 % of hospitalized men have palpable breast tissue. There are many causes and factors that can lead to the disease gynecomastia, and it is very difficult for researchers to try to agree upon one main factor.
As long as there is no other underlying disease or disorder, gynecomastia is not a life threatening disease. Experimentation with hormone therapy is the main research being tested at this time.
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