Angelina Jolie's preventative mastectomy revelation has resulted in increase of women calling the Cancer Council NSW helpline. The agency said that the "Angelina effect" has raised health awareness in women in Australia.

The Cancer Council has revealed that they have recorded 866 per cent rise in calls from women who want to get tested for cancer after the Hollywood actress revealed last month that she has had undergone preventative double mastectomy to decrease her chance of getting breast cancer.

The 38-year-old Academy Award winner penned an op-ed on The New York Times in May titled "My Medical Choice," wherein she revealed that her doctors found out that she had the defective BRCA1 gene, which estimated her chance of getting the disease at 87 per cent. She underwent the surgery in an effort to decrease the number. Now, her chance of getting breast cancer has shrunk to 5 per cent.

Her announcement has helped de-stigmatised the procedure, and even inspired people to get tested and learn about their medical options.

"We're calling it the Angelina effect because of the impact she is having," Cancer Council NSW helpline program manager Lorna O'Brien was quoted by Fairfax Media as saying.

"Angelina coming out with this publicly has seen hundreds of helpline calls from women mentioning her name as a basis for their call. People are really wanting to live well and be healthy, and they see that she's done it, so they realise that they can."

O'Brien added that it's not about the "body beautiful" mentality that is driving women to pick up the phone, saying, "Angelina has made it OK to take these preventative measures."

Cancer Council Victoria also recorded an increase in their calls. As a response to the 1033 per cent rise of phone calls, it is hosting a one-hour webinar on June 25 to allow the public to discuss their concerns about cancer risks in relation to family history in a forum.

The Angelina effect is also felt online. After her announcement, the interest on "mastectomy" skyrocketed in searches 23,000 per cent increase, according to Huffington Post. The average online conversation for the word was also at 500 only, but was pushed up in excess of 100,000 online mentions after the A-lister came clean about her operation.