[So-called preventive ovarectomy]

Carcinoma of the ovaries can be prevented by performing the operation known as prophylactic oophorectomy, i.e. the simultaneous removal of macroscopically non-pathological ovaries in laparotomy because of a benign disease (for example, in uterus myomatosus). Hence, this operation is advocated on the basis of numerous clinical studies, using in most cases derived epidemiological arguments. However, model calculations with population-based data from the Federal Republic of Germany show that, firstly, the so-called prophylactic oophorectomy cannot be justified by means of epidemiological arguments, and, secondly, that no epidemiological effect can be expected to materialise from prophylactic oophorectomy, since unrealistically high prevalences of oophorectomy or hysterectomy must be assumed as essential prerequisites of such an effect. These considerations result in the following assessment: In women who are still menstruating or who are in their menopausal stage, prophylactic oophorectomy cannot be regarded as a generally recommended procedure. This operation is of individual significance, but by no means of epidemiological importance, even in post-menopausal women.