A growing number of women are choosing to get their breasts removed to reduce their risk of getting breast cancer. Angelina Jolie’s decision to do this has had a huge impact on the issue, but now a new piece of research finds that the decision-making process is not quite as clear cut as it may seem from the path Jolie chose. The actress got her double prophylactic mastectomy because she carries the BRCA1 gene, which significantly increases a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer, and hikes the risk for ovarian cancer as well.
The new JAMA study looked at other genes that increase breast cancer risk, but are not as dangerous as the high-risk genes like BRCA1 and BRCA2, with the goal of assessing when women should go the same route that Jolie went. It’s an excruciatingly hard decision to make — so a study like this is extremely important. Study author Dr. Judy Garber told SurvivorNet that because the risk/benefit ratio of the prophylactic mastectomy is still unclear, determining when to get the surgery “may take consideration of other factors.”
Read More“More work needs to be done to help refine our advice to individuals with increased risk of cancer so that we can help them make more precise decisions,” Dr. Comen said.
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