We usually think of breast cancer as being a "woman's disease," yet 1 percent of individuals diagnosed each year are men. Sadly, men are commonly diagnosed with a more advanced stage of the disease, with a correspondingly higher mortality rate that's 25 percent higher than that of women.

When we learn that a man has breast cancer, his genetic profile instantly pops into our brains as something to investigate. That's because a large number of men with breast cancer carry a breast cancer gene.

And here's more worrisome information just released in the January 2007 issue of the journal Breast Cancer Research: Men with a personal history of breast cancer also have a much higher risk of getting other primary cancers. Yikes! These other cancers are commonly a new breast cancer, stomach cancer, or melanoma (skin cancer).

If you know a man with breast cancer, make sure he is being carefully followed for recurrence of this disease. He should also be assessed routinely for other ailments that might signal a new primary cancer. This is a time, for example, when he'll need to start seeing the dermatologist annually.

Many experts believe that more men would survive breast cancer if they reported their breast lump sooner to their doctor. Men may hesitate to tell someone they have a lump — I guess acknowledging that they have breasts is tough enough. Yet we need to encourage these men to speak up because it could save their lives.

If a man has a sister or mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause, he should be checking his own breasts regularly because his risk is just as high as it would be for a woman. Pass the word.