Angelina Jolie shows the way

 

Angelina Jolie

I have never been a fan of nor one used to compliment an actor for their acting prowess except, perhaps, for Dolphy, whose face made me laugh more than his wry humor.

If I am, therefore, writing about Angelina Jolie, a well-endowed woman whose red luscious lips has been the envy of many women and whose persona is the embodiment of a sex symbol and a Hollywood glamor, it is simply because there is more to her sophisticated beauty, star quality and her well-known global advocacy for refugees than meets the eye.

Jolie’s recent revelation that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy last month, meaning she chose to have both her breasts removed even though she had not been diagnosed with cancer and is now planning also to have surgery to remove her ovaries, speaks volume of who she is as a woman and a mother.

One would think that because of her stature and the way the world idolize her, that she would be vain and continue projecting herself in public as if she hasn’t receive any breast implants at all.

But Jolie’s noble decision to go public is to help women, who like her are genetically predisposed to having breast cancer.

Note that Jolie’s mother died of ovarian cancer at the relatively young age of 56.

After undergoing a test for an inherited gene mutation called BRCA1 (breast cancer 1, early onset), which her mother had, it confirmed that she indeed inherited the “faulty” gene.

Her doctors told her she had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer. Apparently, the two cancers go hand-in-hand and are caused by the same rogue gene.

“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could,” she said.

Jolie was thinking about her six children she is raising with boyfriend, Brad Pitt. She wants to assure them that she will be there for them growing up.

In the same manner, Jolie’s selfless decision shows the way and reassures women who may decide to take the same course of action that ones femininity is not lost with the removal of the real thing.

There may be a psychological impact involve, but the benefits of being alive longer, free of anxiety and pain, far outweighs the worries of not being the same, of being incomplete, but, surely, in time and with the help of support groups the outlook will get better.

The only downside of this is that the cost for such medical procedure is so prohibitive that the afflicted with inadequate funds could only wish there was another option more affordable.

Otherwise, let us just entrust our fate in the hands of God.

 

Women could ‘regrow breasts’ after cancer surgery

 

Australian scientists said they were able to develop a revolutionary treatment which would allow women to regrow their breasts after cancer surgery.

Doctors from Melbourne’s Bernard O’Brien Institute of Microsurgery said they had developed an implantable device that uses a woman’s own fat cells to grow back breasts following a mastectomy.

“We have tested it in several animal models so we have done enough testing preclinical to be confident now to take the step with human trials,” said Dr. Phillip Marzella, the institute’s chief operating officer.

Trials on pigs had proved “very successful” and the question was whether the human body could grow fat in the breast area, he said.

“We are starting what is called a prototype trial in the next three to six months — a proof of principle trial with about five to six women just to demonstrate that the body can regrow its own fat supply in the breast,” Marzella said.

The trial, according to Marzella, is not to seek to grow a whole breast but to remedy the imperfection or asymmetry issue with their breasts after a mastectomy or partial mastectomy by allowing the implanted fat to grow.

This new surgical procedure is hoped to replace breast reconstructions and implants within the next few years.

Dense breasts increase cancer recurrence risk

 

 

Researchers from the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Canada have found in their study that women with dense breast tissue are at greater risk of cancer recurrence.

The study was based on the medical records of 335 women who had undergone surgery to remove invasive tumors from the breasts. The women were monitored for cancer recurrence with special attention paid to breast density as seen on mammography.

The level of density was rated as low (less than 25% dense tissue present), intermediate (25 to 50%), and high (more than 50%).

Over a decade, women with denser breasts had a 21 percent chance of their cancer returning compared with 5 percent in women with less dense breasts.

Women with dense breast tissue benefit significantly from radiation therapy following surgery, the researchers concluded. They found that those with denser breast tissue who did not receive the treatment had a 40 percent chance of recurrence.

Dr. Steven Narod, of the Women’s College Hospital said: “The composition of the breast tissue surrounding the breast cancer is important in predicting whether or not a breast cancer will return after surgery.

“Breast density has been found to be modifiable to some extent by physical activity and hormone therapy.”