That men can get breast cancer is not widely known and as a result, the disease is often overlooked or misdiagnosed, according to an Alberta study on the experiences of male sufferers.

The University of Alberta-sponsored survey followed the treatment of 20 men, aged 44 to 85, and studied the different ways men and women cope with the disease.

The preliminary results are to be released at the National Conference for Men's Health in Atlanta.

Researcher Edie Pituskin suspects there may also be numerous cases going undiagnosed and untreated. "There is a general lack of awareness on male breast cancer both on the part of health professionals and the population at large," said Pituskin.

About 150 Canadian men are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and that number is rising every year.

Pituskin says most men don't even realize they can get breast cancer.

Not just a cyst

Brian Crookes went to his doctor after he found a lump under his nipple three years ago. He says the doctor told him it was just a cyst.

"He didn't think breast cancer," said Crookes. "In fact after two or three discussions with him about the lump itself it was only through the persistence of my wife that [we decided to] go get this looked at."

The tests were ordered two years after he first complained to his doctor.

Crookes says everyone was shocked when the lump was diagnosed as breast cancer.

Since then he has had both sides of his chest removed and his cancer is now in remission.

Pituskin says most men don't even realize they can get breast cancer. She hopes to raise awareness about the disease and "not only encourage men to visit their doctors more often but to highlight the disease to health-care professionals who may recognize the illness too late," says a news release on the University of Alberta website.

Pituskin hopes her study will encourage doctors to consider the possibility of male breast cancer more seriously. She also wants to see men participating in clinical trials since many drug or treatment trials allow only female participants.