Our goal is to increase awareness about non-narcotic pain control options available before, during, and after surgical procedures that are so effective that needing narcotics postoperatively is dramatically reduced or even eliminated.

Nearly every BRCA mutation carrier's main concern is how to avoid the fate of relatives who have had, and possibly died from, breast or ovarian cancer.

It is absolutely a good thing that she [Angelina Jolie] helped to educate the world about the existence of this mutation; hopefully, as a result, more compassionate understanding exists regarding the choices BRCA carriers must face.

Our goal is to increase awareness about non-narcotic pain control options available before, during, and after surgical procedures that are so effective that needing narcotics postoperatively is dramatically reduced or even eliminated.

The most surprising fact that people do not know about breast cancer is that about 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a single relative with breast cancer. Much more than just family history and inherited genes factor into the breast cancer equation.

In my practice, the majority of mutation carriers choose mastectomy; however, for those without cancer, they have much more control over the timing. For younger women, we might wait until they have found a life partner, or until after childbearing. Older women who find out they carry a mutation have unwittingly escaped a large percentage of their risk, and therefore, the calculated future risk is not necessarily a daunting number.

Risk reduction for BRCA2 carriers includes taking tamoxifen. Removing ovaries prior to age 40 drops breast cancer risk in half. Ovarian cancer surveillance is unfortunately inadequate at early detection, but birth control pills reduce ovarian cancer incidence up to 60%.