Preventive (prophylactic) bilateral oophorectomy carries benefits and risks that must be carefully balanced when considering this procedure.

In an oophorectomy, a surgeon removes both your ovariesthe almond-shaped organs on each side of your uterus.

Your ovaries contain eggs and secrete the hormones that control your reproductive cycle.

This surgery can halt or slow breast cancers that need these hormones to grow.

Discuss your risk factors for breast cancer and ovarian cancer with your doctor.

And 30 would be expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer after oophorectomy.

And six would be expected to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer after oophorectomy.

For some, oophorectomy may offer great reduction in risk.

The risk of complications depends on how the procedure is performed.

But more concerning is the impact of losing the hormones supplied by your ovaries.

If you have yet to undergo menopause, oophorectomy causes early menopause.

Even if you didn’t plan on having children, you might mourn the loss of your fertility.

Use of low-dose hormone therapy after oophorectomy is controversial.

It isn’t entirely clear what effect hormone therapy might have on your cancer risk.

Ask your doctor about your particular situation.

If you decide to take low-dose estrogen, plan to discontinue this treatment around age 51.

Discuss the benefits and risks of hysterectomy with your surgeon.

For this reason, most doctors recommend oophorectomy.

But oophorectomy isn’t right for everyone with a high risk of breast cancer or ovarian cancer.

So talk about the alternatives with your doctor to better understand how they may affect your risk.

Screening tests are noninvasive, but there’s no evidence that they save lives.

Birth control pills.Studies suggest that taking birth control pills reduces the risk of ovarian cancer in average-risk women.

However, the benefits of reducing ovarian cancer risk seem to outweigh the small risk of breast cancer.

Surgery to remove your breasts (bilateral mastectomy) may reduce your risk of breast cancer by 90 percent.

The decision to have prophylactic oophorectomy is a challenging and difficult one with no clearly right or wrong answer.

Updated: 8/11/2020

Publication Date: 3/3/2005