Oophorectomy ‘reduces risk of breast cancer’ in women with BRCA mutations

The effect is strongest in the five years postsurgery, Canadian investigators report
Reuters Health Staff writers
woman in pink top wearing pink ribbon to denote breast cancer

In women with pathogenic variants of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy to help avoid ovarian cancer also appears to reduce breast-cancer risk, researchers say.

Canadian investigators studied registry data on 876 families of which 498 families (2650 individuals) carried an inherited pathogenic variant in BRCA1 and 88% of probands were Caucasian.