Angelina Jolie's Mastectomy

Angelina Jolie has recently attracted a great deal of attention for her surprising announcement regarding her double mastectomy.  Jolie, a favorite of gossip columns and TMZ for her ultra-high profile marriage to fellow movie star Brad Pitt, typically makes headlines for her adoptions and for her charitable work in New Orleans and Africa.  In this case, however, Jolie managed to focus attention on the important topic of preventive mastectomy.

Jolie discussed her decision in a recent op-ed piece for The New York Times.  In it, she wrote that her mother fought cancer for almost a decade until she succumbed to the disease when she was only 56.  As breast cancer can be genetically transmitted, Jolie knew that her chances of getting her mother’s disease were quite high.  Her doctors, in fact, told her the probability of her getting breast cancer was an astonishingly high 87%.  Jolie said in the Times piece that “I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience”. 

Clearly, in Jolie’s case, the genetic evidence was powerful enough to convince her to undertake the double mastectomy procedure.  And Jolie is not alone in electing to undertake preventative measures:
according to an unpublished study by Dr. Kelly Hunt, Chief of Breast Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the percentage of the Center’s patients electing to have prophylactic surgeries done increased from 8% in 2010 to 14.1% in 2012.  Dr. Kelly discussed the findings with CNN, which reported them on its web site.

In addition to the genetic factor, the National Cancer Institute notes in its report on Preventive Mastectomy that there are other reasons why a woman would want to have this type of a procedure performed:

·         Women how have had radiation therapy in the vicinity of the chest before age 30 are at an increased   risk of cancer.

·         Women who have previous occurrences of breast cancer may also be suitable candidates.

·         In addition, women with Lobular carcinoma in situ, a condition that increases the risk of developing cancer in either breast, may want to consider the surgery.

 

All in all, while, as with most surgeries, there is risk in the double mastectomy procedure, many at risk women are clearly electing to reduce the chances of breast cancer by taking proactive steps to prevent the disease from affecting them.  Jolie may inspire more women both here in the US and around the globe to review their options when it comes to prophylactic mastectomies.