Angelina Jolie revelation triples breast, ovarian cancer genetic testing

THE number of women undergoing genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer tripled after Angelina Jolie revealed she carried a faulty gene.

THE number of Australian women referred to genetic clinics tripled immediately after Angelina Jolie's announcement that she carried a faulty gene for breast and ovarian cancer.

Referrals across three states have remained at double the volume since May this year.

Women who have a mutation in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are at an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre's Mary-Anne Young said the greater awareness of genetic risk would save lives.

She said most of the referrals were people who had a medium or high risk of having a genetic predisposition to cancer.

Genetics clinics in NSW, Victoria and South Australia had 340 referrals in the six weeks before the actor's announcement.

Referrals rose to 760 six weeks after Jolie went public with her decision to undergo a preventive mastectomy.

Some women who discover they carry the mutation opt to take preventive steps such as increased screening, risk-reducing medication or surgery.

The data will be presented at the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia's Annual Scientific Meeting today.