SUNDAY, Sept. 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly a quarter of all ovarian cancers are fueled by family genetics, so what should you do if your mom or sister are diagnosed? According to one expert, knowing whether you are at high risk is the first step toward taking measures that can mitigate that increased danger. Getting a genetic test for yourself is how you find that out.
What do you do if that test comes back positive? According to Dr. Shaina Bruce , a gynecologic oncologist at the Penn State Cancer Institute, women at increased risk for ovarian cancer are typically advised to have their fallopian tubes and ovaries removed when they are done having children. Mutations on BRCA1 and BRCA2, two genes known to also increase the risk for breast, prostate and other kinds of cancer, are the key culprits behind ovarian cancer.
A patient with a mutation on their BRCA1 gene has a 40% greater likelihood of developing ovarian cancer, Bruce said, while a BRCA2 mutation increases cancer risk by 20%. “The trouble with removing ovaries in a young woman in her 30s and 40s is that it puts the patient into surgical menopause,” Bruce explained. “Also, the estrogen that your ovaries make is important,” because it protects a woman’s heart and bones and can lower her dementia risk, she added.
However, doctors have discovered in the past decade that more than 80% of ovarian cancers actually begin in the fallopian tubes. Penn State is now participating in a study that will compare remo.