Prophylactic Oophorectomy in Carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutations

Among 551 women with a disease-associated mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene who were followed for at least eight years, the at least incidence of ovarian cancer was significantly lower in the group that underwent prophylactic bilateral oophorectomy than in the comparison group of women who did not undergo the surgery. In a subgroup of these women, prophylactic oophorectomy also reduced the risk of breast cancer. Women with germ-line BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations have an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer as compared with the general population. 1 – 3 These women often undergo bilateral prophylactic oophorectomy to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, the data on the resulting reduction in the risk of cancer are limited. 4 Moreover, papillary serous peritoneal cancers, which arise from the same cell lineage as ovarian cancer and are clinically indistinguishable from stage III ovarian cancer, 5 – 7 have been reported in women at high risk who have undergone the procedure. 8 , 9 Prophylactic oophorectomy reduces the risk of breast cancer by about . . .