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Evidence summaries

Ovarian Ablation in Early Breast Cancer

In women aged below 50 years with early breast cancer ovarian ablation appears to improve survival, but more evidence is needed on the additional effects of ovarian ablation in the presence of other adjuvant treatments. Level of evidence: "B"

A Cochrane review (abstract , review [Abstract]) 1 [withdrawn from publication] included 12 RCTs (all started before 1980) with a total of 2102 subjects. For women under 50 at entry, surgical ovarian ablation or suppression of ovarian function, sometimes with the addition of prednisone, versus no such adjuvant treatment was associated with a significantly higher 15-year survival (52.4% vs 46.1%; 6.3 fewer deaths per 100 women, p=0.001) than no ovarian ablation. For women aged 50 or more, there was no significant difference in survival.

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by indirectness (no information on the effect of ovarian ablation in the presence of present-day treatments for breast cancer).

    References

    • Clarke MJ. WITHDRAWN: Ovarian ablation for early breast cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008;(4):CD000485. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords