A new study has found that removal of the ovaries is associated with a 62% reduction in deaths from breast cancer among breast cancer patients with the BRCA1 gene mutation.

Share on Pinterest A 65% reduction in all-cause mortality was associated with oophorectomy.

Women who carry either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have a 70% likelihood of developing breast cancer during their lifetime, as well as high risks of second primary breast and ovarian cancers if they do develop breast cancer.

Researchers from the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto, Canada, set out to confirm these previous observations, studying a group of 676 women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations and early-stage breast cancer.

Among the study participants, 345 underwent oophorectomy – a procedure to remove the ovaries – while the remaining 331 women retained both ovaries.

Overall, 77.4% of all participants were still alive after 20 years. The researchers found a 56% reduction in breast cancer death to be associated with oophorectomy, with this reduction rising to 62% among women carrying the BRCA1 mutation.

However, women carrying the BRCA2 mutation who underwent oophorectomy had only a 43% reduction in breast cancer death, which the researchers say was not statistically significant. A 65% reduction in deaths from all causes was found to be associated with oophorectomy.

In the study, oophorectomies were performed 6 years on average after the women received a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Seventy of the participants who carried BRCA1 had their ovaries removed within 2 years of their diagnosis, and the authors observed a 73% reduction in death among this group. The researchers found that the protective effect of the procedure was immediate and lasted for 15 years.