NYT HEALTH: To Prevent Cancer, More Women Should Consider Removing Fallopian Tubes, Experts Say
By Roni Caryn Rabin
Section: Health
Source: New York Times
Published Date: February 1, 2023 at 02:00AM
On Wednesday, a leading research and advocacy organization broadened that recommendation in ways that may surprise many women.
Building on evidence that most of these cancers originate in the fallopian tubes, not the ovaries, the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance is urging even women who do not have mutations — that is, most women — to have their fallopian tubes surgically removed if they are finished having children and are planning a gynecologic operation anyway.
“Ovarian cancer is a relatively rare disease, and typically, we don’t message to the general population,” Audra Moran, president of the alliance, said. “We want everyone with ovaries to know their risk level and know the actions they can take to help prevent ovarian cancer.”
To that end, the group also has begun offering free at-home testing kits to qualifying women who want to find out if they carry BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations, which confer an elevated risk for developing both ovarian and breast cancer.
Younger carriers of the mutations might consider removing only the fallopian tubes as an interim step to protect against ovarian cancer, and to avoid abrupt early menopause, Ms. Moran said, even though the gold-standard treatment for carriers is to remove the ovaries, too.
While women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations have a very high risk for ovarian cancer, a majority of women with the disease do not carry the mutations.
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By Roni Caryn Rabin
Section: Health
Source: New York Times
Published Date: February 1, 2023 at 02:00AM
A top research group is urging even women without genetic risks to have their fallopian tubes removed under certain circumstances.
There is no reliable screening test for ovarian cancer, so doctors urge women at high genetic risk for the disease to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed once they are done having children, usually around the age of 40.On Wednesday, a leading research and advocacy organization broadened that recommendation in ways that may surprise many women.
Building on evidence that most of these cancers originate in the fallopian tubes, not the ovaries, the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance is urging even women who do not have mutations — that is, most women — to have their fallopian tubes surgically removed if they are finished having children and are planning a gynecologic operation anyway.
“Ovarian cancer is a relatively rare disease, and typically, we don’t message to the general population,” Audra Moran, president of the alliance, said. “We want everyone with ovaries to know their risk level and know the actions they can take to help prevent ovarian cancer.”
To that end, the group also has begun offering free at-home testing kits to qualifying women who want to find out if they carry BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations, which confer an elevated risk for developing both ovarian and breast cancer.
Younger carriers of the mutations might consider removing only the fallopian tubes as an interim step to protect against ovarian cancer, and to avoid abrupt early menopause, Ms. Moran said, even though the gold-standard treatment for carriers is to remove the ovaries, too.
While women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations have a very high risk for ovarian cancer, a majority of women with the disease do not carry the mutations.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/01/health/ovarian-cancer-fallopian-tubes.html
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