Familial ovarian cancer

Women with mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are at increased risk for the development not only of breast, but of ovarian cancer. The estimated lifetime risk of contracting ovarian cancer for women bearing the mutation is 16% for Ashkenazi Jews and up to 60% for high-risk populations. If a woman is at high familial risk of getting ovarian cancer, an intense screening with transvaginal ultrasound or determination of CA 125 can be done, although these methods have not proved beneficial so far. It is thought by some that the use of the contraceptive pill can prevent up to 50% of family-associated ovarian cancers, but the few existing studies have yielded contradictory results. That prophylactic oophorectomy can prolong the lives of healthy women with a family history or who bear a germline BRCA mutation is quite sure, but it is not helpful in preventing peritoneal carcinoma. The clinicopathologic behavior of mutation-associated ovarian cancer differs from the growth pattern of sporadic ovarian cancer. The hope is to develop suitable therapies for both types.