Though a difficult choice, it seems that women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes who are at a greater risk of developing breast cancer can reduce their chances if they undergo surgery.

Mastectomy, a surgery which involves the removal of one or more breasts, reduces the chances of breast cancer in women substantially. Women with the BRCA1 gene mutation pose a 56% higher risk of developing breast cancer whereas women with the BRCA2 gene mutation face an 84% greater risk of breast cancer.

Another adversity that is faced by women with the mutant gene is that BRCA1 women are at 36-63% greater risk of developing ovarian cancer, where as women with BRCA2 face an appreciated risk of 10-26% of developing ovarian cancer.

Dr. Susan M. Domchek, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, had observed the effect of mastectomy on 2,482 women and it was found that 7% of the women who had not undergone mastectomy had developed breast cancer during follow up testing in the following three years, whereas all the women who had decided to undergo mastectomy did not develop breast cancer.

In a similar study, women with mutated genes who had their ovaries and fallopian tubes surgically removed showed similar results of not developing ovarian cancer.