Large numbers of young Canterbury women are getting rid of their breasts and ovaries after being tested for a cancer-causing gene.

Women with mutations of the BRCA vulnerability gene have a 50 to 85% lifelong danger of developing breast cancer. Their possibility for ovarian cancer is 20 to 40%.

Women found positive with BRCA are recommended to get rid of their ovaries and fallopian tubes before reaching 40 and some have mastectomies that lower their possibility of acquiring breast cancer by up to 90%.

Christchurch Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Jeremy Simcock said that he was witnessing mounting numbers of young women seeking breast reconstructions after preventive mastectomies.

He said, "It's been steadily increasing over the last five years as BRCA 1 and 2 mutations have become both regularly tested for and people have become more aware of them".

Simcock said that those with the BRCA gene belonged to a younger age group than those who had mastectomies because of breast cancer and were more liable to get a reconstruction done.

He observed three to four of these women every year and he was just one of seven Canterbury plastic surgeons performing the surgeries.

Christchurch's Central and Southern Regional Genetics Service Senior Genetic Associate, Caroline Lenity said that scientific testing for BRCA mutations started around 1998.