Women can protect themselves from gynecological cancers by having their ovaries and uterus removed, if they have been diagnosed with nonpolyposis colorectal cancer or Lynch syndrome. It is because these women face higher chances of contracting ovarian and endometrial cancers. The chances of getting the latter is as high as 40% to 60%, while it is between 10% and 12% in the case of the former.
Women who do not have the Lynch syndrome only run a 1% to 3% chance of contracting ovarian or endometrial cancer. There is also no instance of gynecological cancers in the case of women who had undergone hysterectomies. The New England Journal of Medicine has published the study results. Lynch syndrome is reportedly a hereditary form the of colon cancer, and the National Institutes of Health’s figures state that it causes 7% of colorectal cancers.As many as 315 women who suffered from the Lynch syndrome were diagnosed during the study. Prophylactic hysterectomy may not be the only option open for women who suffer from this condition according to Dr. Noah Kauff of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Women can go in for prophylactic hysterectomy when they decide not to have any more children or at the age of 35 years. It would be better if women with the Lynch syndrome had children before the age of 30.
