Angelina Jolie Has Second Surgery | Jolie's Impact On BRCA Screening Is Huge
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Angelina Jolie shared one more reason why she is among the world’s most admired women, writing an op ed in The New York Times about her latest preventive surgery. Two years ago the world star had a double mastectomy after learning that she carries the BRCA1 gene. Angelina Jolie Pitt, the name she used in today’s op ed, had an 87% risk of getting breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer and lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer.
Jolie’s recent surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes was always part of her health management plan, but a recent blood test and follow-up medical treatment prompted her to act now.
At the time of her double mastectomy, Jolie wrote: ‘I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.’
In today’s piece, Jolie reached out to women, saying ‘I feel feminine and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer”.
High Impact on Women’s Health
2. In 2014 Dr. Harold Burstein from the Harvard Medical School shared news of Angelina’s impact on women getting checked for BRCA mutations. Calling her first op-ed ‘a model of medical writing’, Dr. Burstein referred to a study at the University of Toronto that examined both an increase in medical screenings and whether the subjects were medically appropriate candidates or just nervous nellies.
Focusing on their own populations in Toronto, the doctors concluded that the number of BRCA! and BRCA2 screenings doubled as a result of her op ed. The candidates for the screenings were ABSOLUTELY women who should be screened. A secondary effect was a strong increase in physician referrals by doctors influenced by the Jolie effect, health workers who probed more deeply into women’s medical histories.
