Preventing ovarian cancer by salpingectomy - Editorial /4 articles - Current Oncology

Current Oncology

Editorial

W.D. Foulkes , MB BS PhD
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3747/co.20.1613

This issue of Current Oncology contains four articles1–4 on the subject of the role of bilateral salpingectomy in preventing high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. To the uninitiated, that idea may seem counterintuitive. Surely, to prevent ovarian carcinoma, you have to remove the ovaries, and not the adjacent fallopian tubes? Well, maybe not. The four articles, in their various ways, make plain that the focus of prevention in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma has shifted from the ovary to the fallopian tube. This shift is the result of work in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, who are at greatly elevated risk for high-grade serous carcinoma arising in the ovary, fallopian tube, or peritoneum.............