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Women with faulty BRCA gene mutations may live longer if they opt to have their ovaries removed. A recent study revealed that women with the BRCA gene mutation had a five times greater risk of developing breast cancer than other women and a ten times greater risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Removing the ovaries dramatically reduced the risk for the participants who opted to undergo the surgery, which forces the body into menopause and prevents the woman from ever getting pregnant. Women who had their ovaries removed reduced their risk of getting breast cancer by 8 percent and their risk of getting ovarian cancer by more than 5 percent.
The author of the study, Timothy Rebbeck, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, says, “It’s really critical to have the best information when making such a profound decision.” However, the study involved 2,500 women who had been identified as having the BRCA mutation. All of the women were cancer free and most were under the age of 50 when they began the study. The participants were allowed to choose either the surgery to remove the ovaries or more aggressive screening for cancer.
A tenth of the women opted for a mastectomy and nearly half the women – 40 percent – opted to remove their ovaries. Some of the women opted to do both surgeries. The women who chose to have their ovaries removed had the most dramatic results, but preventative mastectomy also reduced the risk of breast cancer as well.
The faulty BCRA gene has considerable consequences for the women who carry it. Those women with the faulty gene go from a typical risk of 12 percent for breast cancer to an overwhelming 60 percent. Less than one in a hundred women without the BCRA gene get ovarian cancer, while nearly 40 percent of women with the gene will develop the cancer.
Shadra Bruce is a contributing writer for News By The Second
