| December 2005 · Vol. 17, No. 12 LETTERS
Remove or spare ovaries at hysterectomy?
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Fast Track
“The assumption that medical treatment can ameliorate CHD is questionable; any protection afforded by a woman’s own ovaries would be beneficial.”
“Don’t ignore an individual woman’s history in favor of statistics that describe groups of patients”
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Although I appreciate many of the comments made by Dr. David S. Guzick and Dr. Andrew W. Menzin in their critique of our study in the November installment of Examining the Evidence, I would like to clarify a few points.
Dr. Menzin noted that the risk of ovarian cancer decreases after hysterectomy because abnormal-appearing ovaries are removed at the time of hysterectomy. However, as our paper points out, the risk remains diminished for 20 years, longer than any screening effect would last. Current explanations of the reduced risk of ovarian cancer after hysterectomy include the interruption of carcinogen transport through the genital tract or formation of MUC1 antibodies after destruction of genital tissue during surgery.1
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