Groundbreaking Simultaneous Surgeries for High-Risk Women: C-Sections and Ovary Removal

 

Surgeons Perform Simultaneous Caesarean and Ovary Removal Operations to Reduce Cancer Risk

In a groundbreaking medical development, surgeons have successfully conducted simultaneous caesarean sections and ovary removal operations on high-risk women, potentially marking a world first. This innovative approach, carried out between March 2018 and March 2022, has eliminated the need for separate surgeries to remove fallopian tubes and ovaries in four patients with inherited faulty genes, significantly reducing their cancer risk.

Professor Adam Rosenthal, from University College London Hospital (UCL), who led these pioneering surgeries, has not been aware of similar procedures being performed elsewhere. The women involved in the study had inherited mutations in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, according to research published by UCL in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Statistics reveal that women inheriting harmful BRCA1 variants have a 55% to 72% risk of developing breast cancer, while those with unfavorable BRCA2 variants face a 45% to 69% risk. Additionally, those with faulty BRCA1 genes carry a 39% to 44% risk of ovarian cancer, a particularly lethal gynaecologic malignancy often diagnosed at a late stage.

The report underscores the significance of identifying individuals with a genetic predisposition to perform risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (the removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes), offering a substantial opportunity for ovarian cancer prevention and mortality reduction.

Professor Rosenthal emphasized that performing both surgeries concurrently minimizes the risk to patients associated with two separate operations. The primary focus of these procedures is to address the heightened risk of ovarian cancer in these high-risk individuals, although it also has implications for breast cancer prevention.

As women are increasingly postponing childbirth, their age at childbirth rises, subsequently increasing the risk of ovarian cancer. Simultaneously, the rate of caesarean sections is on the rise. Hence, it is anticipated that more women may become eligible for this innovative combined procedure over time.