Cancer experts have spoken out to advise women in the wake of actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to take radical action to prevent herself developing breast cancer.
Ms Jolie, aged 37, decided to have a double breast removal after discovering she carried the breast cancer gene BRCA1. She was told she had an 87% chance of developing the disease.
British experts said breast removal was not the only option for women who carry genes.
Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician of Cancer Research UK, said breast cancer genes were responsible for just 5% of cases of the disease.
He said: "It’s important that women who do carry these genes know that – thanks to decades of research and trials – there are now things they can do to reduce their risk. Having surgery is just one of several options – they can also have regular monitoring and screening with techniques like MRI scans.
"If you’re worried about having breast or ovarian cancer running in your family you should speak to your GP about whether you should consider genetic testing."
He added: "It is important to remember that most of our risk comes from simply getting older, but there are things all of us can do to cut down our chances of cancer, such as not smoking, keeping a healthy body weight and limiting our alcohol intake."
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