Four women undergo groundbreaking procedure combining C-section and ovarian cancer surgery

Ovarian cancer remains most lethal type of malignancy in women

A groundbreaking 2-in-1 surgery has helped four women in the UK give birth and cut their risk of cancer at the same time.

The pioneering operation performed at the University College London Hospital combined the traditional Caesarean section for giving birth with ovarian cancer surgery.

It involved removing both the ovaries and fallopian tubes of the four women at the time of their C-section delivery to reduce their risk of developing ovarian cancer in the future.

The groundbreaking simultaneous surgeries were performed between 1 March 2018 and 31 March 2022 on women over 35 years of age.

The surgeries had not earlier been reported upon. They were described in a new study published on Thursday in the latest edition of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Doctors, including professor Adam Rosenthal who performed the procedure, said the four women carried a mutation that made them susceptible to developing ovarian cancer in the future.

Ovarian cancer remains the most lethal type of malignancy in women with poor treatment outcomes, largely due to the disease being far along in its growth at the time of diagnosis.

Alterations of the BRCA gene are associated with about 15 per cent of ovarian cancers.

Previous studies have shown one of the best ways to prevent deaths from this type of cancer is to identify those with a genetic predisposition and perform a procedure called risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO).

RRSO has shown to reduce ovarian cancer risk by at least 90 per cent.

However, one of the challenges of a simultaneous procedure combining RRSO with a C-section, according to doctors, is the possibility of additional blood loss.

The latest study reports the case of four women who had BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations and successfully underwent the pioneering procedure combining a C-section and RRSO.

All four women who underwent the groundbreaking operation said they were “very satisfied” with the surgery 11–59 months after the procedure.

Researchers said performing this combined procedure at the time of planned Caesarean delivery can also have additional cost benefits as a separate operation is not needed.

“We believe that the option of combined RRSO and cesarean delivery should be offered to all pregnant BRCA carriers requiring Caesarean delivery who have completed childbearing and are at an appropriate age for RRSO, after discussion of the advantages and disadvantages,” they wrote.