A 59-year-old woman was referred to Nicole Gaulin, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, after learning she had a BRCA2 mutation linked with both breast cancer in a cousin and colon cancer in her father.

During a routine screening for high-risk patients, the woman opted for a risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy to remove her ovaries, during which it was found that she had a serous tubal intraepithelial lesion, a precancerous condition that could have developed into ovarian cancer if left untreated. 

“This is a somewhat unique case as it allowed us to detect a future ovarian cancer before it became invasive,” Dr. Gaulin says. “The ability to detect and remove pre-cancer prior to becoming invasive disease can save our patients from having to undergo this difficult treatment regimen and improve survival.”