Salpingectomy During Sterilization May Lower Ovarian Cancer Risk

A new study has recently revealed that women who undergo laparoscopy to remove fallopian tubes have minimal surgical complications, and this makes salpingectomy a safe procedure. It can also help prevent future ovarian cancer. 

Ovarian cancer is a rare yet serious disease with insidious progression and poor prognosis. It affects around 440,000 women in the world every year. It does not show any early symptoms. Hence, it is very difficult to diagnose earlier and causes death.  

Over half of cancer cases start in the fallopian tubes before spreading to the ovaries. Opportunistic salpingectomy is a procedure that is offered to sterilized women. It is a common practice in gynecological surgery for pathological changes. 

This study was recently published in The Lancet Regional Health—Europe and focused on surgical complications. In this study, researchers wanted to understand whether more procedures may lead to women opting out of the procedure. They involved 972 women who were scheduled for laparoscopy sterilization. They divided them into two groups such as the standard sterilization group and the extended surgery with the salpingectomy group. The standard sterilization group was consisted of 499 women. On the other hand, the extended surgery with the salpingectomy group was consisted of 474 women.  

Tubal surgery can increase the risk of some complications such as prolonged pain, bleeding, wound infections, urinary tract infections and hernias. 

When researchers observed the collected data, they found that 8.1% of participants who had fallopian tubes removed experienced a complication within eight weeks as compared to 6.2% of those who had tubes cut. They considered it as an accepted difference. 

Researchers also found that the procedure took an average of 45 minutes to remove fallopian tubes. On the other hand, it took 29 minutes to cut the fallopian tubes. 

One of the researchers, Annika Strandell said that preventing ovarian cancer is a significant win for society and women who are affected. She also suggested that surgery to remove fallopian tubes during sterilization can prevent many new cases of cancer. 

Researchers are now trying to find out hormonal effects in women whose fallopian tubes were removed during sterilization, focusing on whether menopause occurs earlier and if it may lead to undesired health effects, with initial results expected within a few years. 

The results of this study are very important as they show that women who undergo laparoscopy to remove fallopian tubes have minimal surgical complications. This study has also shown that salpingectomy is a safe procedure. Hence, healthcare professionals should consider this study to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer. This study can help use reduce the risk of many health complications and even death.