Angelina Jolie made worldwide news when she recently revealed her elective double mastectomy as a preventative measure against breast cancer. Experts from Mayo Clinic and the Center for Individualized Medicine, along with Dr. Richard Besser (@abcDrBchat) from ABC, spent an hour on Twitter chatting with doctors, media and interested participants from around the world.

Conversations focused not only on Angelina Jolie’s decision, but also on breast cancer risks, and the historical decline in cases. Mayo Clinic’s Sandhya Pruthi, M.D., a medical oncologist and former director of the Breast Clinic reminded us that breast cancer is still a powerful opponent of women.

“@DrSandhyaPruthi: T1 over 250 000 women will be diagnosed a year… that is 1 every 6 minutes #abcdrbchat”

Some conversation highlights revolved around the differences between mastectomies and lumpectomies, as well as new nipple-saving techniques in reconstructive surgery.

“@SherlyNess1: T5: Dr. Richard Gray explains the nipple sparing mastectomy procedure: youtu.be/hJk1K_0pXt8 #abcDrBchat”

To see the whole transcript of the Twitter Chat, click here. Find updates on Mayo Clinic’s whole genome breast cancer study, the BEAUTY Project, and keep up to date with the genomics, pharmacogenomics, clinomics, and more research happening at the Center for Individualized Medicine here.

Thank you to all who participated, and for Dr. Richard Besser for moderating the Twitter Chat. We look forward to our next time meeting you online!

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