Surgery Cuts Some Breast Cancer Risk
Posted on: Monday, 5 June 2006, 12:00 CDT
A U.S. study finds that prophylactic surgery removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes may reduce the breast-cancer risk with those with the BRCA2 gene.
The study followed 886 women over the age of 30 who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 breast-cancer genetic mutation. Of this group, 561 opted to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes surgically removed -- a procedure called risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy -- while 325 chose to participate in ovarian surveillance. The women were tracked for 40 months.
Overall, the prophylactic surgery reduced the incidence of ovarian and related cancers by 89 percent and decreased breast-cancer incidence by 47 percent. However, the study showed that women with BRCA2 mutations also reduced their risk of developing breast cancer by 72 percent, while those with BRCA1 mutations reduced their risk of breast cancer by 39 percent.
Why the results of the procedure differ in BRCA1 carriers and BRCA2 carriers is a question that we are currently exploring and hope to answer in future studies, said lead author Dr. Noah D. Kauff, a gynecologist and geneticist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
The findings are being presented Monday at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Atlanta.
Source: United Press International
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