New surgery helps prevent ovarian cancer

KGW Staff

Posted on February 7, 2013 at 3:59 PM

PORTLAND, Oregon -- Doctors at a Portland hospital have joined some others across the nation and Canada in following a new recommendation aimed at preventing one of the deadliest forms of cancer in women.

“This is something so simple that could save a lot of lives,” said Dr. Nathalie Johnson, the Medical Director of the Legacy Cancer Institute. Johnson is recommending women who have tubal ligations or hysterectomies have their fallopian tubes removed.

"It’s because researchers have found the tubes attract cancer cells which can eventually encase the ovary," she said. "You could actually find a normal ovary wrapped in cancer and realize the cancer was starting in the fallopian tube and not the ovary."

The recommendation is supported by research on thousands of women. Legacy researcher Dr. Ann Smith-Shedev has studied the connection for more than a decade.

“We think this could cut the most common type of ovarian cancer by up to 70 percent,” Shedev said.

The Legacy Cancer Institute is the first program in Oregon to make the recommendation that women consider the fallopian tube removal if they’re scheduling a tubal ligation or hysterectomy.

“We’d like to raise awareness and hopefully it can become the standard here in Oregon and across the country,” said Johnson.

KVUE News

** I had several massive experimental surgeries in the early 1970's for lymphedema at Good Samaritan Hospital, which is now Legacy. My questions are, "is this really the answer?  Have you also warned your patients about the possibility of leg or abdominal lymphedema from such a surgery?"  Your peers in the 1960's at the Oregon Health Sciences University wrote a very interesting article about abdominal/leg lymphedema from an abdominal surgery. Pat**

In vitro fertilization, endometriosis, nulliparity and ovarian cancer risk.

Oct 2012

Stewart LM, Holman CD, Aboagye-Sarfo P, Finn JC, Preen DB, Hart R.

Source

School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Western Australia, M431, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia. Electronic address: louise.stewart@uwa.edu.au.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To examine the risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer in a cohort of women seeking treatment for infertility.

METHODS:

Using whole-population linked hospital and registry data, we conducted a cohort study of 21,646 women commencing hospital investigation and treatment for infertility in Western Australia in the years 1982-2002. We examined the effects of IVF treatment, endometriosis and parity on risk of ovarian cancer and explored potential confounding by tubal ligation, hysterectomy and unilateral oophorectomy/salpingo-oophorectomy (USO).

RESULTS:

Parous women undergoing IVF had no observable increase in the rate of ovarian cancer (hazard ratio [HR] 1.01; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.35 to 2.90); the HR in women who had IVF and remained nulliparous was 1.76 (95% CI 0.74 to 4.16). Women diagnosed with endometriosis who remained nulliparous had a three-fold increase in the rate of ovarian cancer(HR 3.11; 95% CI 1.13 to 8.57); the HR in parous women was 1.52 (95% CI 0.34 to 6.75). In separate analyses, women who had a USO without hysterectomy had a four-fold increase in the rate of ovarian cancer (HR 4.23; 95% CI 1.30 to 13.77). Hysterectomy with or without USO appeared protective.

CONCLUSIONS:

There is no evidence of an increased risk of ovarian cancer following IVF in women who give birth. There is some uncertainty regarding the effect of IVF in women who remain nulliparous. Parous women diagnosed with endometriosis may have a slightly increased risk of ovarian cancer, nulliparous women have a marked increase in risk.

PubMed