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in collaboration with
Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
Medical validation:
February 06, 2023
The removal of the fallopian tubes could prevent, in some women, the occurrence of ovarian cancer – particularly difficult to diagnose.
Ovarian cancer is the 9th cause of cancer in women, with around 5,320 new cases each year in France (2020 figures). To prevent it, few solutions exist. But a new statement from the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) reveals that removing the fallopian tubes (salpingectomy) could effectively prevent this type of cancer.
A particularly deadly cancer
According to the statement from the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA), “70% of ovarian cancer the most common and deadly begin in the fallopian tubes“.
Women – especially those at risk – would therefore have every interest in taking a closer look at this surgical removal of the tubes to prevent this type of cancer.
“Research shows that removing the fallopian tubes during another pelvic surgery, such as a hysterectomy or tubal ligation, and leaving the ovaries intact, can prevent ovarian cancer“, can we read in the press release.
An intervention that is all the more useful, given the almost non-existent diagnosis of this cancer and the rather bleak survival prognosis that follows (it is the deadliest gynecological cancer).
The American experts are therefore rather enthusiastic about this operation which could “prevent up to 90% of ovarian cancers“.
But to proceed to ablation, women must dismiss any desire for pregnancy – the fallopian tubes have the role of transporting eggs to the uterus.
Women with genetic predispositions are concerned
If there are currently no recommendations in this direction in French society, “this operation could concern women at high genetic risk, carriers of the BRCA1, BRCA2 gene or suffering from Lynch syndrome“, assures Dr. Bagot, gynecologist.
And for good reason: no screening strategy has yet shown its relevance for the early diagnosis of this cancer.
If the preventive effect of this intervention is confirmed, “it could therefore be interesting in women who no longer have any desire for pregnancy, because according to the study 90% of epithelial ovarian cancers would have a tubal origin“, further notes the expert.
If the intervention is “without consequences on daily life“, it is better to practice it “on the occasion of any pelvic operation (hysterectomytubal sterilization, endometriosis, etc.), concludes the expert.