Actress and special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Angelina Jolie visits a Kurdish refugee camp in Dohuk, northern Iraq January 25, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

'Very personal decision'

DeBernardo's colleague, gynecologic oncologist Dr. Jason Knight, said he hoped Jolie's latest announcement would spark important discussions among patients and their families and improve access to risk-reducing surgery for people who would benefit from it.

"It is a very personal decision and one that should be made with good medical information," he said.

Last month, a study by information and advocacy group AARP found that BRCA testing rates increased nearly 40 percent beginning with Jolie's May 2013 announcement, from an average of 350 per week to 500. They remained elevated for the rest of the year.

Meyers said Jolie's openness would help get more people to have genetic testing, consider prophylactic surgery and talk openly about menopause and hormone replacement therapy.

"I think the most important thing to come out of this is going to be a decrease in fear and an increase in dialogue," she added.

Surgery to remove the ovaries and fallopian tubes to reduce the risk of cancer has become an option more women are choosing. But it does not completely eliminate the risk of the disease because ovarian cancer can also strike the cells that line the abdomen.

"A person with a BRCA mutation who has risk-reducing surgery still has residual ovarian cancer risk in the neighborhood of 3 to 4 percent," said Knight.

After risk-reducing surgery, patients are usually monitored. But the benefits are unclear and each case needs to be considered individually, he added.

Jolie, who knows that she remains prone to cancer, said Pitt flew to her side from France hours after she told him about the test.

"The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity," she said. "You know what you live for and what matters."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 20,000 women get ovarian cancer, and about 14,500 die from it every year in the United States.

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Angelina Jolie speaks at refugee camp in Iraq