Actress Angelina Jolie announced today that she recently underwent a preventive double mastectomy after finding out that she had the “breast cancer gene.” Jolie’s mother died of breast cancer at age 57. Preventative or prophylactic mastectomy—the removal of breast tissue—may be one of several options available to women who are at increased risk for developing breast cancer, explains Kristin L. Brill, MD, Program Director, The Janet Knowles Breast Cancer Center at Cooper Cancer Institute.