Reducing Your Risk - Chapter 11 Ovarian Cancer: Cancer

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Reducing your risk

So what do you do? If you have a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer (i.e., more than one family member with the disease), talk with your doctor about being tested for the genetic mutations that increase your risk of ovarian cancer. The chief mutations to be concerned about are BRCA1 and BRCA2, the so-called breast cancer genes. About half of the women with BRCA1 mutations will develop breast cancer or ovarian cancer, or both, by the time they reach 70. The risk of ovarian cancer is not as high if you have the BRCA2 gene, but it is still greater than that of the general population. Genetic mutations that are associated with hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer may also increase your risk.

If you are at high risk for ovarian cancer, you may want to discuss the following options with your doctor:

• The use of birth control pills, which can reduce risk.

• Regular screenings, including physical exams; transvaginal ultrasound, which uses painless sound waves to produce an image of your ovaries, permitting the detection of abnormal growths; and blood tests for CA125, a protein sometimes shed by ovarian cancer cells. None of these screening methods is foolproof, however.

• A more invasive measure is prophylactic oophorectomy, which is the removal of the ovaries. For some high-risk women over 40, this surgery can significantly decrease the risk for ovarian cancer. But, in certain circumstances, women can still develop ovarian cancer after having had their ovaries removed, and few healthcare providers recommend it because it carries other risks and, in younger women, causes premature menopause.

Last updated:	May 01, 2008