[Preservation of the ovaries in peri-menopause]

The authors analyse the motivation for allowing conservation of healthy ovaries when surgical operations are being undertaken round about the time of the menopause. When patients who are at risk are excluded, and when pathological ovaries are excluded, as also when there is a technical impossibility of conserving the ovaries, they can be conserved. This implies that one should check the ovary that is left behind histologically, especially looking for the risk of cancer developing later. Although this is slight it nevertheless has to be emphasised. The authors further their argument by reference to the anatomical, physiological and hormonal state of the ovary around the time of the menopause. Although the hormonal state changes and is less intense with a relative increase in the secretion of D4 androstenedione and sometimes even of oestradiol, the ovary does remain an organ that secretes actively around the time of the menopause and even past the confirmed menopausal state. The inclination to conserve ovaries should not be a systematic one but every case should be considered on its own merits.