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Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy National

Breast cancer: Some facts and statistics

  • Around 55,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK. That’s one person every 10 minutes.
  • Just under 12,000 people die from breast cancer in the UK every year.
  • Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, and account for around a third of all new cancers diagnosed in women.
  • An estimated 550,000 people living in the UK today have had a diagnosis of breast cancer.
  • More people are being diagnosed with breast cancer but survival rates are improving.

Source: Breast Cancer Care

Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy National

Hague: Angelina Jolie is an 'inspiration to many'

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Angelina Jolie is a "a brave lady" who would be "an inspiration to many" after revealing that she had a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer.

Mr Hague who visited refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Jolie in March, as part of a campaign to highlight the problem of mass rape in conflict areas, added:

"She is a courageous lady and a very professional lady. She's done a lot of work with me in recent months."

William Hague and Angelina Jolie t
William Hague and Angelina Jolie Credit: Dan Kitwood/PA Archive/Press Association Images

"She gave no sign that she was undergoing such treatment and I think she's a very brave lady, not only to carry on with her work so well during such treatment, but also to write about it now and talk about it. I think that she's a brave lady and will be an inspiration to many."

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Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy National

What is a Mastectomy?

  • A mastectomy is an operation to remove the breast mainly as a treatment for cancer or to reduce the risk of it developing.
  • In 2010-2011, over 18,000 mastectomies were carried out in England.
  • Risk-reducing (prophylactic) mastectomies are carried out on women who have family history of breast cancer.
  • Certain genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, can increase the risk of developing breast cancer.
  • Preventative mastectomies can reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 90% in people at a high risk of developing the condition.
  • Some women opt for artificial breast reconstruction after the procedure.
Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy National

What is the BRCA1 breast cancer gene fault?

Angelina Jolie has had a double mastectomy after doctors calculated she had an 87% chance of developing breast cancer as a carrier of the BRCA1 gene.

Read: Angelina Jolie reveals she has had a preventative double mastectomy

  • Around 1 in 20 breast cancers is partly caused by an inherited gene fault and the BRCA1 gene is just one of these.
  • The BRCA1 gene helps to repair damage to DNA. When a mutated gene is passed from parent to child, all the breasts' cells carry this mutation.
  • Women with a faulty gene have a 50 to 80% chance of getting breast cancer in their lifetime.
  • BRCA2 and TP53 genes are also associated with increased risk of breast cancer.
  • Genetic tests are available to women with a high risk of having changes in these genes.
Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy National

Breast cancer campaigner praises Jolie's 'openness'

Angelina's openness in talking about her own experience and her decision to have surgery raises crucial awareness of breast cancer and its genetic risk.

Deciding whether to have preventative surgery is a heart-rending decision for women like Angelina but we know it's a vital way of saving lives.

This is a stark reminder of how much more research we need to do to give women more knowledge, choice and life-saving options to reduce their risk.

If you are at all concerned that you may have an inherited mutation in your family and want further advice, your GP will be able to provide more information and help.

– Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign

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Group for Lincolnshire's NHS 'victims'

NHS Trust welcomes hospital watchdog

"The safety and quality of our care is our top priority. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust is currently on a journey of improvement, which has been evidenced by recent CQC reports on our hospitals.

"We welcome the Keogh review as an opportunity to improve further , and the more evidence that can be put in front of the review the better it will be for patients."

– United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust spokesperson
Group for Lincolnshire's NHS 'victims'

Campaign group set up after Lincolnshire hospitals high death rates.

A campaign group's been set up in Lincolnshire - encourging people who feel they've been a victim of the NHS - to come forward.

'Cure the NHS Lincolnshire' say they want people who feel they've been let down by the county's hospitals to contact them, to help inform a review team who're carrying out an investigation next month - into high death rates.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust was one of 14 NHS trusts highlighted with high mortality rates during the Mid Staffordshire Hospitals scandal. Bosses say they welcome the review.

Breakfast clubs in Sheffield to stop hungry children taking exams

New figures show over a third of children in Sheffield are skipping breakfast and going hungry before they do important exams.

Thirty five percent of youngsters taking their SATS this week won't have had breakfast - almost twice the national average. But some schools are bucking the trend by setting up breakfast clubs. Martin Fisher went along to one of them.

Sheffield Children's Hospital: Life through a lens

They try, every day, to change the lives of children from our region for the better. And now the work of doctors and nurses from Sheffield's Children's Hospital is being shown to the public.

Photographers have been given unlimited access to the wards, and now the result of their work has gone on display at Sheffield train station. Calendar has met one family who know first hand about the remarkable work the hospital does.

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