Research article

Coordinated prophylactic surgical management for women with hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome

Larissa I Batista¹ , Karen H Lu² , Elisabeth K Beahm³ , Banu K Arun⁴ , Diane C Bodurka² and Funda Meric-Bernstam¹

¹  Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

²  Department of Gynecologic Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

³  Department of Plastic Surgery, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

⁴  Department of Breast Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

author email corresponding author email

BMC Cancer 2008, 8:101doi:10.1186/1471-2407-8-101

Published:	14 April 2008

Abstract

Background

Women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations have a substantially increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer compared with the general population. Therefore, prophylactic mastectomy (PM) and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) have been proposed as risk-reduction strategies for BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. We aimed to assess the feasibility of coordinated PM and BSO in hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome.

Methods

High risk women for breast and ovarian cancer who underwent coordinated PM and BSO were included in this study. Clinical characteristics and surgical and oncologic outcomes were retrospectively reviewed.

Results

Twelve patients underwent coordinated PM and BSO. Ten had history of previous breast cancer. Autologous breast reconstruction was performed in ten patients. The mean age at surgery was 43 (range 34–65). Mean operating time was 9.3 hours (range 3–16) with a mean postoperative hospitalization of 5.4 days (range 4–8). Intraoperatively, there were no major surgical complications. Postoperatively, one patient developed an abdominal wound dehiscence, another reoperation for flap congestion; one had umbilical superficial epidermolysis, and one patient developed aspiration pneumonia. At a mean follow-up of 84 months, 10 of patients were cancer-free. Although no patients developed a new primary cancer, two developed a distant recurrence.

Conclusion

Coordinated PM and BSO is a feasible procedure with acceptable morbidity in selected high-risk patients that desire to undergo surgery at one operative setting.