Senior Chinese cancer specialists expressed caution about Hollywood star Angelina Jolie's decision to undergo a preemptive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer, stressing the importance of a comprehensive risk analysis, including genetic screening.

In an editorial for the New York Times that went viral, Jolie wrote that the surgery reduced her chances of contracting the disease from 87 percent to 5 percent.

Qiao Youlin, vice-chairman of the expert's board for early detection and treatment of cancer at the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission, said Jolie must have faced a very high and definite risk of breast cancer, otherwise the mastectomy would not have been performed.