Angelina Jolie undergoes a double mastectomy
The actress decides to undergo surgery to reduce the high chances of developing breast cancer
Doctors advised surgery due to genetic inheritance that increases risk
American actress Angelina Jolie has announced that she has undergone a double mastectomy in order to reduce the chances of developing cancer, due to her family history. The actress has made her decision known in a letter published in The New York Times, where she has explained that she is a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which dramatically increases the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer in women. who own it.
"My doctors estimated that she had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer, although the percentages vary from woman to woman," the actress wrote. "When I learned that this was my reality, I decided to act proactively and minimize the risk as much as possible. I made the preventive decision to undergo a double mastectomy." After the operation, doctors have reduced the actress's chances of developing these diseases by up to 5%.
In the letter, Jolie, 37, explained that she entered the operating room motivated by fear of suffering from the same disease that killed her mother, producer and actress Marcheline Bertrand, in 2007 at the age of 56, despite that his mother's was ovarian cancer.
"Nine weeks after the start of the treatment, the final phase of the surgery was completed," said the actress. The process began in February and was completed in late April at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in California. Treatment included two adenomastectomies and one breast reconstruction.
According to the specialists, it is not the same operation that women with breast cancer undergo, since the mammary gland is not completely removed. For example, the nipple and the ducts that supply it are respected: a vein and an artery, which pass through the middle of the breast. Hence, there is a 5% chance of developing the disease; nothing compared to 87%.
I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to undergo a mastectomy is not easy, "the actress explains in her open letter." But I am very happy to have taken it. "In the same letter, entitled My Medical Choice ( My medical decision), Jolie also appreciates the support of her partner, actor Brad Pitt, and assures that she hopes that this decision that she has made public will serve as an example for more people to apply the same preventive measures as she, despite physical difficulties that they suppose.
"I feel strengthened by the difficult decision I have made, but in no case is my femininity diminished," she says. "For all the women reading this, I just hope it helps them know their options," she adds. "I can already tell my children that they should not fear: They will not lose me to breast cancer," concludes the artist, who has three biological children - whom she gave to suck - and three adopted.
