Prophylactic Radical Fimbriectomy with Delayed Oophorectomy in Women with a High Risk of Developing an Ovarian Carcinoma: Results of a Prospective National Pilot Study

Simple Summary Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is the gold standard for the prophylaxis of ovarian cancer in high-risk women. However, 20-30% of women delay or refuse early oophorectomy due to significant adverse effects related to induced early menopause. We performed a pilot study to evaluate a two-step ovarian cancer risk-reducing approach with radical fimbriectomy followed by a delayed oophorectomy. A total of 121 patients underwent radical fimbriectomy. This approach appears to be safe, well tolerated, and avoids surgery-induced early menopause, while no high-grade serous adnexal carcinomas have been reported to date in this cohort with a median follow-up of 7.3 years. Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is the gold standard for the prophylaxis of ovarian cancer in high-risk women. Due to significant adverse effects, 20-30% of women delay or refuse early oophorectomy. This prospective pilot study (NCT01608074) aimed to assess the efficacy of radical fimbriectomy followed by a delayed oophorectomy in preventing ovarian and pelvic invasive cancer (the primary endpoint) and to evaluate the safety of both procedures. The key eligibility criteria were pre-menopausal women >= 35 years with a high risk of ovarian cancer who refused a risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy. All the surgical specimens were subjected to the SEE-FIM protocol. From January 2012 to October 2014, 121 patients underwent RF, with 51 in an ambulatory setting. Occult neoplasia was found in two cases, with one tubal high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Two patients experienced grade 1 intraoperative complications. No early or delayed grade >= 3 post-operative complications occurred. After 7.3 years of median follow-up, no cases of pelvic invasive cancer have been noted. Three of the fifty-two patients developed de novo breast cancer. One BRCA1-mutated woman delivered twins safely. Twenty-five patients underwent menopause, including fifteen who had received chemotherapy for breast cancer, and twenty-three underwent menopause before the delayed oophorectomy, while two did not undergo a delayed oophorectomy at all. Overall, 46 women underwent a delayed oophorectomy. No abnormalities were found in any delayed oophorectomy specimens. Radical fimbriectomy followed by delayed oophorectomy appears to be a safe and well-tolerated risk-reducing approach, which avoids early menopause for patients with a high risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Automated summary

A two-step approach of radical fimbriectomy followed by delayed oophorectomy appears to be a safe and well-tolerated method for reducing the risk of ovarian cancer in high-risk women, avoiding surgery-induced early menopause.