Doctor warns ‘silent killer’ may be stopped by removing women’s fallopian tubes after giving birth

Woman in hospital shocked after receiving a diagnosis
-Credit: (Image: GETTY)


An average of 11 women in the UK die every day from ovarian cancer, according to Cancer Research UK, and this is taking into account that mortality rates have decreased by a quarter since the 1970s. The diagnosis is only the 6th most common cancer among women but its devastating prognosis is largely because it’s often caught late in its development.

Only 35% of patients survive ovarian cancer for 10 years or more in England and one surgeon is speaking out calling for radical preventative measures rather than trying to continuously play catch up with advanced cancer cases. Ovarian cancer is notoriously difficult to diagnose early enough for an optimistic prognosis because there isn’t a screening for it and by the time a woman starts noticing the symptoms it’s usually advanced already.

Dubbing it the “silent killer”, Professor Michael Worley spoke to Angela Epstein for the Daily Mail explaining how it has a five-year survival rate of less than 50%, which is under that of breast and lung cancers. He urged women to have their fallopian tubes removed after they have children in order to slash their risk of this brutal cancer.

He warned: “We need to look at ways to prevent the disease rather than play a desperate game of catch-up once diagnosis is confirmed.” This type of extreme pre-emptive measures are already used for women with a family history of breast or ovarian cancers.

However, the expert believes this service should be extended to women who don’t have a genetic risk as well by being opportunistic and removing the fallopian tubes in women due for other pelvic or abdominal operations. This includes hysterectomy, fibroid removal, a Caesarean section or even gallbladder removal.

The professor revealed: “Evidence suggests removing the fallopian tubes reduces a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer to as close to zero as is possible”. He is part of an initiative with the top five cancer centres in the US to make women, and professionals, more aware of this option in preventative cancer treatment.

He shared his hopes that doctors in the UK will follow suit. Removing the fallopian tubes as part of another abdominal or pelvic procedure, also known as a opportunistic salpingectomy, is a permanent form of birth control, as it leads to sterility, and can be used to treat ectopic pregnancies or endometriosis.

Despite the illusory title, the amount of ovarian cancer cases that actually start in the ovaries is quite small. Instead, it usually starts in the fallopian tubes. The doctor highlighted that by removing the fallopian tubes and leaving the ovaries can also cut down the complications and side effects from the procedure.

Removing the ovaries usually results in surgical menopause and can increase the patient’s risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Fallopian tubes also have a limited blood supply meaning there’s less risk of bleeding and the 4-5cm tubes can be removed in a few minutes.