Effect of Oophorectomy on Survival

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  • YoungTurkNYC
    YoungTurkNYC Member Posts: 334
    edited April 2015

    The above link provides research results on the effect of oophorectomy on survival in the BRCA positive early stage breast cancer patients.

  • YoungTurkNYC
    YoungTurkNYC Member Posts: 334
    edited April 2015

    One of the more interesting results from this study was that an oophorectomy was also very highly beneficial to women with triple negative (or hormone negative) breast cancers (perhaps because the removal of the ovaries also reduces androgen production to which these types of tumors may be receptive).


     

  • Tinkerbells
    Tinkerbells Member Posts: 211
    edited April 2015

    beneficial effect for hormone negative is just for brca, correct?

  • YoungTurkNYC
    YoungTurkNYC Member Posts: 334
    edited April 2015

    This particular study was done on the BRCA positive cohort. However, the effect of oophorectomy on survival is very pronounced in women with hormone negative cancers in that cohort. If the rationale is that you reduce androgen production as well as well as estrogen production through an oophorectomy, I do not see why it would not be applicable to non-BRCA women with TNBC. This must be studied further for sure in non-BRCA women with TNBC.

  • cp418
    cp418 Member Posts: 7,079
    edited April 2015

    http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-12/uoc...


    Three San Antonio studies target androgen in breast cancer


    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/15022...


    In triple-negative breast cancer, even low-androgen tumors respond to anti-androgen therapy

    Clinical trials are underway of anti-androgen drugs against high-androgen triple-negative breast cancers, and new work shows the threshold for benefit from anti-androgen therapies may be much lower than previously thought: even breast cancers with few androgen receptors benefit from anti-androgen therapy.



  • jessica749
    jessica749 Member Posts: 429
    edited April 2015

    So hard to parse significance. Read quote from one author or peer MD who said that the surprising effect on hormone negative bc might be due to the low numbers in the study (so that the results are n't statistically accurate, really). Then again, might be something to it!

    Also, I read in relation to another study on this same topic (oopherectomy supposedly lowering the recurrence risk in BRCA positive bc patients) that the results were only accurate for the specific group (BRCA positive) and not necessarily relevant to the rest of us non-BRCA positive bc patients! But that made me wonder--why not study the non Brca population. Then I realized--well of course they only have this study for BRCA people because there is NO ONE ELSE BESIDES BRCA bc patients who have been getting oopherectomy in any great traceable numbers.

    If it's true that statistically significant studies need 3,000 or more patients, I wonder why this study only included about 650. Is it because the numbers of people for whom such data is available is very slim? The study looks at 20 year horizon, and I suppose BRCA genetic testing not that widespread 20 yrs ago so available data limited?

  • jessica749
    jessica749 Member Posts: 429
    edited April 2015

    PS A noted MD once told me that number -- that '3,000' was the number for statistically reliable in population.

  • YoungTurkNYC
    YoungTurkNYC Member Posts: 334
    edited May 2015

    Bumping this for some questions in another thread. Sorry I do not know how to attach it to the other thread.  Not sure if it answers the questions of Tinkerbell but I think there were some other members who had not seen this study.

  • Tinkerbells
    Tinkerbells Member Posts: 211
    edited May 2015

    I see it! Reading again and printing to discuss with onc. Heck, if they told me cutting a finger off shows a benefit in survival I'd consider that

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