The main prevention options for BRCA mutation carriers are:

• Enhanced surveillance: regular mammograms plus MRI. This is about catching cancer early rather than preventing it from developing. No surgery involved.
• Prophylactic mastectomy: significantly lowers breast cancer risk. It is, however, major surgery with real consequences.
• Salpingo-oophorectomy: reduces both ovarian and breast cancer risk, but it means losing fertility and entering early menopause.
• Chemoprevention: tamoxifen or raloxifene. A non-surgical option, though it has side effects and needs long-term commitment.
• Fertility preservation: particularly relevant for younger women who may be considering surgical prevention but haven’t yet started or completed their families.

Despite all these options being available, uptake is uneven. In Czechia, for instance, only 25% of high-risk women opt for prophylactic mastectomy. Rates for other measures range from 18% to 64.7%. That gap likely reflects a mix of things: misconceptions, emotional distress, lack of tailored information, inconsistent access to genetic counselling, and generally low health literacy around these topics.

These descriptions will be developed further into detailed, plain-language patient guides as part of the project’s health literacy materials, expected by mid-2027.