Ovary Removal Prevents Cancers in High-Risk Women

A new study suggests that women with genetic mutations associated to breast and ovarian cancer can drastically lower their odds of developing these cancers and dying from them by undergoing preventive removal of their healthy ovaries.

The research demonstrates the benefits of genetic tests that give women with a family history of cancer the chance to take steps to increase their chances of survival, they said.

The 22-center trial, one of the largest of its kind, examined approximately 2,500 women who were confirmed to have inherited mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. The study, published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, provides the most concrete evidence to date about the benefit of undergoing such preventative surgeries in women who carry mutated BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. It confirms what smaller studies have suggested in the past: Women who have a family history of breast cancer can greatly reduce their chances of getting the disease by having a double mastectomy.

Women who have either of the two BRCA genes have a lifetime risk of 56% to 84% of developing breast cancer. Women with the BRCA1 gene also have a 36% to 63% risk of ovarian cancer, and those with BRCA2 have a 10% to 27% risk.

Doctors also recognized that the study could not prove causality in the protective effect of these procedures due to the observational design, but noted that a randomized trial would be considered unethical.

The results confirm “an incredibly important endpoint,” says Claudine Issacs, M.D., one of the study researchers and the medical director of cancer assessment and risk evaluation at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Washington, D.C.