Menopause symptoms similar five years after two surgery plans
The adjusted symptom-score gap was 1.8 points between combined ovary-and-tube removal without hormone therapy and staged surgery; the comparison showed no clear difference.
Our read
Interventions- Studied:
- Non-randomized trial in premenopausal women with harmful BRCA variants, five years
- What changed:
- At five years, symptom scores were similar after combined removal without hormone therapy versus staged surgery: a gap of 1.8 points
- The catch:
- Questionnaire completion differed: 88.5% after staged surgery versus 71.8% after combined removal
- In the record:
- One of 6 papers on salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy on record: 3 with results in people.
- Why it’s aging research:
- It bears on staying healthy in midlife and later life.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Premenopausal women with harmful variants of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, aged 25–40 and 25–45 respectively, chose their surgery in a Dutch nonrandomized study. Of these, 410 chose fallopian-tube removal with delayed ovary removal; 160 chose both together.
At five years, menopause-related quality of life was similar between groups, with or without hormone replacement therapy after combined removal. Symptoms were scored from 0 to 63, with higher scores indicating more symptoms. Adjusted differences were 1.8 points without hormone therapy and 1.4 points with it; both ranges of likely values included no difference. In a separate analysis excluding women after delayed ovary removal, symptom scores worsened less than after combined surgery, with or without hormone therapy. No new ovarian or fallopian-tube cancers were observed through July 2025 among participants with normal tissue findings at first surgery.
Why it matters
Cancer-risk-reducing ovary removal can trigger premature menopause. Balancing cancer prevention with menopause-related quality of life is an important question when deciding when to remove the ovaries.
Caveats
Women chose their surgery, and five-year questionnaire completion differed: 88.5% after staged surgery and 71.8% after combined removal. The study excluded women with current cancer or prior ovarian, fallopian-tube or peritoneal cancer; these quality-of-life findings do not establish equal cancer prevention.
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy
- Sex hormone signaling (estrogen, androgen)
- Premature menopause
- Greene Climacteric Scale
- Humans
The paper
Radboud University Nijmegen
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Apr 9, 2026, Open access
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