Double mastectomy, like Angelina Jolie's, is rare but common
Her genetic study has been decisive for one of the sexual myths of this decade to make this difficult decision. Actress Angelina Jolie has an 87 percent chance of suffering from this disease and a 50 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer. A little-known practice but it is also carried out in Spain on a regular basis, but not frequently
“My mother battled cancer for almost a decade and she died at 56 years old. She lived long enough to see the first of her grandchildren and hold him in her arms. But my other children will never have the opportunity to meet her and the experience of knowing how loving and kind she was. "
Thus begins the article "My medical choice", written by Angelina Jolie and published today in The New York Times, in which the actress makes it known publicly that she has undergone a double mastectomy as a drastic means of reducing her chances of suffering a breast cancer similar to the one that killed her mother.
“Judging by the figures, what this lady has is more than a trend, it is an 87% risk of suffering from breast cancer; It is a recommended practice, ”says Pilar Zamora, an oncologist at the Family Cancer Unit of the Oncology Service of the Hospital de La Paz.
When a mutation of this style is detected, the subject is informed about what it means, the significance of this finding and what consequences it may have. “We inform the healthy person about the possibilities we have to reduce risk. We give her the option, she decides. The one that most reduces this risk is prophylactic mastectomy; another is a drug treatment but obviously the effectiveness is much lower ”, says the oncologist.
"In Spain it is a rare but common practice since only 5% of cancers are hereditary. At the Hospital de La Paz we carry out 10 or 12 annual interventions of this type ”, affirms Zamora.
The why of the actress
In the article, the American actress assures that when she talks about her mother with her own children and tries to explain the disease that "took her away" from them, they ask her if it could happen to her the same. "I've always told them not to worry, but the truth is that I carry a faulty gene, BRCA1, which dramatically increases my risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer."
Her doctors, adds the actress - paired with fellow actor Brad Pitt, with whom she has six children, three biological and three adopted - estimated that she had an 87 percent chance of suffering from breast cancer and a 50 percent chance of suffering from cancer. ovary, "although the risk is different in each woman."
“Once I knew what my reality was, I decided to take the initiative and minimize the risk. I have made the decision to have a double mastectomy. I started with my breasts, since the risk of suffering from this cancer was higher than that of having ovarian cancer and the surgery is more complex, ”emphasizes the 37-year-old Californian actress.
Jolie assures that on April 27 the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomy entails concluded, and adds that, during that time, she has been able to keep this section of her life "private" and thus continue with her work.
“I wanted to write this to explain to other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not an easy one. But now I am very satisfied that I did. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 to less than 5 percent. Now I can tell my children that they do not have to fear that they will lose me to breast cancer, ”she emphasizes.
The "nipple delay" technique
In the article, she reveals that the medical process began on February 2 with the “nipple delay” technique, a plastic surgery technique “with which the effects of the mastectomy do not aesthetically damage the nipple. This causes a bit of pain and a lot of bruising, although it does increase the chances of saving the nipple. "
Two weeks later she underwent major surgery, an operation that can last eight hours and in which breast tissue is removed. “You wake up with drainage tubes and expanders in your breasts. You feel like in a science fiction movie. However, days after the surgery, a normal life can be resumed, ”she adds.
Nine weeks later - she continues - the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant, and she emphasizes that in recent years there have been "many advances" in this procedure and that the results can be "beautiful".
Make it public
The film director also assures that it is "reassuring" that, after the operation, her children do not see anything "uncomfortable". “They can see little scars, and that's it. Everything else is mom, the same as she always was, and they know that I love them and would do anything to be with them for as long as I can. "
Personally, she adds, "I feel that I chose a good option that does not diminish my femininity at all", and she recognizes "lucky" to have a partner, Brad Pitt, "so loving and supportive."
“I have decided not to keep my story a secret because there are many women who do not know that they could be living in the shadow of cancer. I am hopeful that they, too, will be able to obtain genetic tests and that, if they are at high risk, they will know that they have options, ”she emphasizes.
“Life has many challenges. The ones that shouldn't scare us are the ones that can be assumed and taken control ”, she concludes.
Earlier this year, Allyn Rose, a candidate for the beauty title for the District of Columbia announced the same decision. Due to her genetic propensity to suffer from breast cancer, the American defended on televisions around the country that, although there are doctors who tell her to wait, which is something she can do later, she did not want to risk “facing a battle for his life with only 24 years ”.
The majority profile of women who decide to undergo a double mastectomy due to genetic predisposition is young, Caucasian and with a high level of education, according to a report from the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota.
