Many women choose not to reduce risk of breast or ovarian cancer MANY women who carry the high-risk genes for breast and ovarian cancer are not taking preventive steps such as surgery or medication to reduce their chance of developing the cancers. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre research found only a minority of women with the genetic mutations BRCA1 and BRCA2 undertook risk-reducing interventions. Of the 325 Victorians carrying the genes, only 21 per cent had a mastectomy, 38 per cent had both ovaries and fallopian tubes removed and 3 per cent had medication as part of a clinical trial. According to data from the Kathleen Cuningham Foundation Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer, almost a quarter of the women developed cancer. Lead author medical oncologist Ian Collins said there was considerable scope to increase the uptake of risk-reducing measures. "There will need to be greater uptake of these interventions to optimise the benefits of genetic testing and reduce the incidence of potentially preventable cancers," Dr Collins wrote. Barriers to taking medications that decrease cancer risk could include concerns about side-effects and the fact the drugs were not government subsidised. The research was published in the Medical Journal of Australia.