Angelina Jolie double mastectomy: Actress to play her late mother in biopic

Written By: Admin | Updated : July 15, 2013 10:40 AM IST

Actress Angelina Jolie will reportedly play her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, in a biopic made by her partner Brad Pitt's production banner Plan B. Bertrand died of cancer in 2007. She was 56. Jolie recently announced that she opted for a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of getting breast cancer. If reports are to be believed, the biopic will go into production in 2014. But a release date is yet to be locked for it. Jolie is much like her mother when it comes to humanitarian work. Bertrand helped female Afghan refugees and also launched the Give Love Give Life organisation in an effort to help fight gynaecological cancers.

The actress causes quite a media storm after revealing in an op-ed piece that she'd undergone a double mastectomy because she carried a mutation of the BRCA1 gene which sharply increases one's risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Read more about the procedure here.

What is a double mastectomy?

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A double mastectomy is a word used to broadly define the removal of some parts of the breasts. Usually performed for people suffering from cancer, it is as a preventive measure for high risk patients. Depending on the type of cancer and its location the doctor may remove either the breast and the associated lymph nodes, the breast tissue, areola and nipples or the skin.

There are various types of mastectomies, some of them are modified radical mastectomy (where the entire breast, associate tissues, muscles and lymph nodes are removed), simple (total) mastectomy (where the entire breast is removed, but the lymph nodes are kept intact), skin-sparing mastectomy (where the entire breast tissue and associated structures are removed, but the skin is kept intact) and Nipple-sparing (subcutaneous) mastectomy (this is where the breast tissue is removed but the chest muscle, areola, and skin is kept intact). In both the skin-sparing mastectomy and nipple-sparing mastectomy reconstruction surgery immediately performed. For women who haven t undergone breast reconstruction there s a device called themastectomy blouse to give the illusion of having breasts.

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer is a type of cancer originating from the breast tissues. Both men and women can be afflicted by it though it s rarer in men. Along with cervical cancer it s one of the most common types of cancer that afflicts women. One of the major issues with breast cancer is that it is often not detected soon enough. This is due to low awareness about the disease. Detecting it early can significantly reduce the death risk. It is along with cervical cancer, the most common type of cancer among women in India. The problem is compounded by the fact that we re a largely conservative society and it s uncommon even for educated women to go to a doctor with a problem like a lump on her breast. This has led to a scenario where women don t find out they have the disease until it s too late.