Removal of ovaries and breasts in high risk women reduces the risk of contracting cancer

Even in patients diagnosed with breast cancer, the surgery can highly eliminate the risk of dying in such patients.

Removal of ovaries and ovarian tubes in women having either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes can eliminate the risk of ovarian cancer by about two-thirds, while the removal of breasts can reduce the risk of breast cancer by almost 85 percent.

The procedures can further decline the rate of dying by as much as two thirds in existing patients.

2,482 women studied
The study, led by Drs. Timothy R. Rebbeck and Susan M. Domchek of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, looked at 2,482 women diagnosed as BRCA carriers during 1974 and 2008.

10 percent of the women chose to undergo mastectomies, a procedure which can sharply reduce the risk of breast cancer by surgically removing the bulk of tissue in which such tumors arise.

40 percent of the participants underwent a procedure called salpingo-oophorectomy which besides eliminating the risk of ovarian cancer by removing virtually all of the tissue in which it can arise, also reduces the risk of breast cancer by sharply reducing the production of estrogen, which fuels the growth of breast tumors.

Results of the study
One percent of the women who had their ovaries completely removed were later on diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the tissue that surgeons had missed.

On the other hand, 6 percent of the women who had not undergone any surgery later developed ovarian cancer.

11 percent of those women who had their ovaries removed were diagnosed with breast cancer, compared with 19 percent of those who had no surgery at all.

Further, 3 percent of the women died of all causes, compared with 10 percent of those who had no surgery.

The study is the largest such investigation to date and the first to differentiate the benefits based on which gene a woman has and whether or not she has already had cancer, claimed the study researchers.

"We already knew intuitively that removing breasts reduces the risk of breast cancer, but this is the first paper that actually shows it contributes to a survival benefit," said Dr. Jane Kakkis, surgical director at MemorialCare Breast Center at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, who was not involved in the study.

"That's a big difference in terms of helping patients make a difficult decision."

The findings were published on Tuesday in the 'Journal of the American Medical Assn.'