Hysterectomy is not enough.


The Association between hysterectomy and ovarian cancer risk: A population-based record-linkage study

https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djz015


It is a long-held belief that hysterectomy without oophorectomy protects against ovarian cancer. This study follows the female adult Western Australian population (n= 837,942) across a 27-year period.

Hysterectomy without oophorectomy (n = 78,594) was not associated with any change in risk of ovarian cancer .

For women with endometriosis (5.8%) or with fibroids (5.7%), hysterectomy was associated with substantially decreased ovarian cancer risk.

In the absence of endometriosis or fibroids, having a hysterectomy is not likely to substantially alter the risk of developing ovarian cancer.


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