Are some women having their ovaries removed unnecessarily?

There are tests that can be carried out to find out if ovarian cancer is one of the health concerns that a woman needs to worry about in her lifetime. If a woman is found to carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, her future wellness and wellbeing could be affected as they are at an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer at some stage in their life. In some cases, these women choose to go ahead and have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, in order to reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer. In ordinary women, the risk of developing the cancer is around two percent, but when a woman is found to carry these types of gene mutation, the risk soars. Women who carry BRCA1 have a 40 percent chance of developing the cancer, while BRCA2 carries a slightly lower (but still high) risk of around 20 percent.

This procedure is only recommended if the woman in question is around 40 years of age and has had any children that they want to have.

Shocking new research, however, shows that some women who do not carry this BRCA mutation are still undergoing ovarian and fallopian removal. This research analysed a group of 1, 447 women who had received a screening for BRCA coupled with genetic counselling. The results of the study seemed to show that 12.3 percent of women who did not appear to carry the genes still went ahead with the ovarian removal. While it was not clearly shown that they did so in order to try to prevent ovarian cancer, the results seem to indicate that this would be the case.

It is important to be aware that this type of surgery is not recommended for a woman who does not carry BRCA (and does not have a different gynaecological disorder) and that the benefits of this type of surgery do not outweigh the risks in these cases.