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You Should Know
Anatomy
Prevention
Risk Factors
Genetics
Screening
CA 125
Symptoms
Early Detection
Diagnosis
Radiology
Pathologists
Staging
Treatment
Recurrent Disease
Recurrent Q & A
Nutrition
Prognosis
Clinical Trials
Glossary
Discussion Board
Questions for Dr.
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Prevention
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Prevention means avoiding risk factors that increase the chance of contracting a disease. There are no known simple protective measures that completely prevent ovarian cancer. However, ovarian cancer occurs less frequently under the following conditions:
- Multiple children-women with children have a 45% decrease in risk of ovarian cancer relative to those women who have not born children. Each child is associated with a 10-15% reduction in risk.
- Breast feeding-a reduction in lifetime risk for ovarian cancer of nearly 1% for each month of lactation has been reported.
- Oral contraceptive use-OC use appears to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by 30-60% depending upon the duration of use.
- Tubal ligation (sterilization)-33% decrease in risk
- Hysterectomy
- Removal of the ovaries (Prophylactic oophorectomy)-this is only considered in patients proven to carry the following inherited cancer syndromes: familial site-specific ovarian cancer, familial breast/ovarian cancer, Lynch II syndrome. The benefits are as yet unproven and should be discussed with a genetic counselor.
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