Experts Support Jolie's Prophylactic Surgery Decision

Medscape

 Experts in gynecologic oncology have spoken in support of Angelina Jolie's decision to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a move against ovarian cancer.
Such surgery is the "cornerstone of management" in these cases, said Karen Lu, MD, professor of gynecologic oncology, codirector for clinical cancer genetics, and director of the High Risk Ovarian Cancer Screening Clinic at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
In an interview with Medscape Medical News, Dr Lu said that the star is representative of a growing number of women who are making decisions about cancer before they get cancer; they are described as "previvors" (in contrast to survivors who are living after cancer).
These previvors represent a new wave of patients that has never been seen before. These are women who have been genetically tested and found to have a very high risk for cancer, but have not yet been touched by cancer. "This is something new," she emphasized, "as previously we have been dealing with patients who first had cancer and then were tested and found to be at high risk."
Dr Lu also observed that these previvors have a different approach to the choices that are available to them than the average woman, or a woman with some family history of cancer, as they have very specific information about their risk as a result of the genetic testing......