BRCA1 and breast cancer: However, the premises for its application in oncologic breast surgery were only established at the end of the century, after nipple-sparing mastectomy was accepted as a standard, oncologically safe and cosmetically favorable technique for patients with early-stage breast cancer and those requesting risk-reducing surgery, the latter being greatly popularized by Hartmann et al. along with increasing awareness of the effects of BRCA1 and 2 mutations [29,43,44].