Oophorectomy

[Mary Jo]

Just some questions I'm asking for a friend. A woman I met almost a year ago who I mentored her through breast cancer is thinking about having her ovaries removed. She is hormone positive - her2 negaitve - and is presently taking Tamoxifan. She was Stage 0, DCIS and had her breast removed.

If she would have her ovaries removed would she still need to take Tamoxifan? How is the surgery performed? Side effects of having ovaries removed? Any other things you could share with me would be appreciated.

Mary Jo

[Kimberly Lewis]

Hi, I would first say she should ask her Onc if that would be a good move for her. I felt compelled to do it and had a laproscopic surgery to have ovaries, tubes, uterous, and cervix removed. The surgery was pretty easy, had to take it easy after to be safe, but felt really good. The side effects are hot flashes, possible emotional ups and downs, and I dropped the Tamoxifen to go on Femara and had the resulting joint pains that have gotten worse as time goes on. The good thing for me was I was latter found to be BRCA2+ which means I would have had the surgery anyway so I just took care of business early thank God. If she decides to go forward with it there is a Hystersisters website that might be of interest to her. hope this helps!

[KRISS]

There are many things that play into the choice. I did not really have a choice but am glad I did it. They switched me immediatly to Femara. And after five weeks I still have no side affects from it. Yeah! I had to have an abdomial surgery. But I had everything taken and they wanted to look around. There are several ways to remove and the hyster sister site is great. It has all the answers to pre and post op. It does not however really go into hormones or cancer related questions. That is where I get iffy on what to expect. Onc and Gyno are mostly worried about osteo problems but just had a bone density and am in great shape there. But it all really comes down to personal choice. I gues damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Becky]

Hystersisters deals more with hysterectomy than just an oophorectomy (which always includes the tubes - make sure of that as the tubes and ovaries are made of the same kind of cells and you at least want the operation to reduce your chances of ovarian cancer even though the primary reason is to stop the estrogen).

How old is your friend? If she is young (in her 30's) she may want to wait. She will still have to take an antihormonal regardless of the ovaries. However, when the ovaries are removed, she can use an Aromotase inhibitor (Arimidex, Femara or Aromosin) instead of Tamoxifen or she can stay on Tamoxifen for 5 years and then have the option of switching to Femara for 5 years (what is her ER and PR % as that makes a difference in that decision). But basically, yes she has to remain on something.

Oophorectomy done laproscopically is a breeze. She may be sorer than the average woman if she has had abdominal surgery in the past and has some scar tissue that needs to be cleaned up. This happened to me with a previous C-section. Still was nothing.

There are various side effects that can occur. These include hot flashes and night sweats, dry vagina, bladder infections, bone loss (osteopenia or osteoporesis), joint and muscle pain. You have probably heard them all here on the board by any postmenopausal woman taking an AI. These can be managed. The hystersister site will probably have more off beat ones too as they "specialize" in this.

[harrie]

I had an oophorectomy by way of laperoscopy Dec, 2006 due to my BRCA 2 status. I was hormone positive and am currently on Arimidex.
Maryanne