Following the example of famous Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, who had undergone prophylactic surgery — a preventive surgery to reduce the risk of ovarian and breast cancer, many Indian women are showing interest in undergoing such surgery to mitigate the chances of having breast or ovarian cancer in future.
Archana Devi from Delhi underwent Prophylactic surgery at BlK Cancer Centre as preventive measure to beat life threatening ovarian cancer which might have developed at a later stage because of its mutated BRCA genes.
According to the doctors as she was a carrier of the BRCA1 cancer gene she was at high risk of developing cancer associated complications. She opted for preventive surgery to improve the chances of survival and to lead a healthy and stress-free life.
Forty-year-old Archana underwent this surgery both for preventing breast and ovarian cancer respectively at BlK Cancer Centre, BlK Super Speciality Hospital.
“This is a life changing decision for us but we are happy with it as it drastically reduces the chances of developing cancer in her body,” said Aditya Narayan, her husband.
BRCA are human genes that produce tumour suppressor proteins. When these genes are mutated, protein product either is not made or does not function correctly and with damaged DNA, it leads to cancer.
“We are getting large number of patients for screening for BRCA and some of the positive cases are opting for Prophylactic Surgery which indicates increased awareness among women about the threat of cancer and preventive options available for them,” said Dr Kapil Kumar, Director, Surgical Oncology, BlK Cancer Centre.
He said that Archana Devi opted for risk reducing surgery after both her ovaries showed vascular proliferation.
According to experts, women with the BRCA mutations have up to 50 per cent greater chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer. According to them in most of the cases the cancer is in well-advanced stage before doctors, or patients even know about it but by then it is too late.
BlK Cancer Centre is working towards offering end-to-end solution with genetic screening and preventive surgery.