Outcomes from opportunistic salpingectomy for ovarian cancer prevention

Opportunistic salpingectomy (OS), which is the removal of fallopian tubes during hysterectomy or instead tubal ligation without removal of the ovaries, is recommended to prevent ovarian cancer, particularly serous ovarian cancer. However, the effectiveness of OS is still undetermined. A population-based, retrospective cohort study of all individuals in British Columbia who underwent OS or a control surgery (hysterectomy alone or tubal ligation) between 2008 and 2017 found that the OS group had significantly fewer serous and epithelial ovarian cancers than were expected according to the rate at which they arose in the control group. The authors conclude that OS is associated with reduced ovarian cancer risk.