Angelina Jolie and the Agony of a Mastectomy

Angelina Jolie shocked the world when she reveals that she had a double mastectomy as a preventive measure to prevent breast cancer. According to Ms Jolie, her doctors revealed she had an alternate gene (BRCA1) which puts her at a whooping 87% chance of getting breast cancer and a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. Ms. Jolie, who lost her mother after loosing her ten year battle with an unspecified kind of cancer said she did it especially because of her children.

Angelina Jolie and her late mum

Women who carry BRCA mutations have, on average, about a 65 percent risk of eventually developing breast cancer, as opposed to a risk of about 12 percent for most women. For some mutation carriers, the risk may be higher; Ms. Jolie wrote that the estimate for her was 87 percent.

I applaud her for this act, and i hope this trend will continue, i also encourage women to embrace this trend especially if you have a family history that puts you at risk. on the other hand, some doctors also expressed worry that her disclosure could be misinterpreted by other women, fueling the trend toward mastectomies that are not medically necessary for many early-stage breast cancers. In recent years, doctors have reported a virtual epidemic of preventive mastectomies among women who have cancer in one breast and decide to remove the healthy one as well, even though they do not have genetic mutations that increase their risk and their odds of a second breast cancer are very low.

Do you think this is a good trend? considering the fact that the BRCA mutations are rare and the test is expensive (— about $3,000 — and it is not recommended for most women). or is the world just getting more paranoid and should people wait till they actually feel a lump or are properly diagnosed before going through a mastectomy? what do you think? please leave your comments below.