Surgery reduces risk of cancer in high risk women

When it comes to preventing certain types of cancers in high risk women results of a new study suggest that surgery is the way to go.

Women who have mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are prone to breast and ovarian cancer thus genetic screening can greatly aid these women when it comes to figuring out ways to reduce their risk.

Researchers analyzed health data of 2,482 women with BRCA mutations, 247 of whom did choose to undergo risk reduction surgery.

Those women with the genetic mutations who chose to undergo surgery such as having their breasts or ovaries removed were found to be at much lower the risk of developing cancer than those women who chose not to undergo surgery.

In follow up, none of the women who underwent surgery developed cancer, but 7% of those who did not undergo a mastectomy did develop breast cancer.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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