Ovarian cancer is a serious gynecological cancer with no reliable screening test, resulting in limited treatment options and a low number of survivors. Each year about 3,100 Canadians receive a diagnose of ovarian cancer and approximately 2000 will not survive.  As reported by Medical Xpress, results of a new study recently published in JAMA Network credits Canadian researchers for developing a system that reduces this deadly type of ovarian cancer by almost eighty percent.

The approach was designed by British Columbia (B.C.) researchers and led by the Ovarian Cancer Observatory. The strategy is named opportunistic salpingectomy (OS). The OS strategy involves removing fallopian tubes while the patient is undergoing hysterectomy or other gynecological surgery.

The approach was designed by BC researchers when they discovered that the majority of ovarian cancers begin in the fallopian tubes and not in the ovaries. Most of the patient’s ovaries are left intact to preserve hormone production with minimal side effects. In 2010 BC was the first Canadian province in the world that offered OS.

Senior co-author Gillian Hanlely, gynecology and obstetrics professor at UBC stated that the new study proves that the new Canadian approach saves lives.

New Hope

The new study demonstrates that OS is safe, will not reduce menopause onset and is cost-effective for various health systems.

Between 2008 and 2020 health data of over 85,000 individuals in B.C. with gynecological surgeries were analyzed. Rates of severe ovarian cancer were compared against patients who had similar surgeries but did not undergo the procedure.

Results indicated that cancer rarely occurred after OS and when it did occur the cancer was less aggressive. These findings were validated by pathology laboratories throughout the world.

According to researchers, extending global adoption of OS to pelvic and abdominal surgeries when appropriate would preclude thousands of cases of ovarian cancer in the world every year.