WATCH: Ten years after it began, the B.C. Cancer Agency’s research lab celebrates another success story. Elaine Yong looks at how it has prevented countless ovarian cancer deaths.
It had humble beginnings in the basement of an old bakery, but 10 years later the B.C. Cancer Agency Research Centre has become a world-class facility, responsible for saving countless lives.
One of those made-in-B.C. success stories involves a groundbreaking way to prevent ovarian cancer.
Justine Greene lost her mother and grandmother to ovarian cancer, and knew she was at risk as well.
Around the time of her mother’s passing, researchers and clinicians at the B.C. Cancer Agency realized almost every case of ovarian cancer actually originated elsewhere, usually in the Fallopian tubes.
Dr. Dianne Miller and her colleagues at B.C’s Ovarian Cancer Research Team thought removing the tubes was the answer.
Since then, 11,000 women in B.C have had the procedure, either at the time of other pelvic surgery or if, like Greene, they have a high genetic risk.
“Much like the Angelina Jolie story of a few months ago, if we can identify those families we can then offer preventative surgery to the women who are at extreme risk of getting this cancer,” said gynecologic oncologist Dr. Dianne Miller. “We feel through combining all this, we should be able to decrease the incidence of the cancer by 40 to 50 per cent within 15 years.”
Just after her mother died six years ago, Greene underwent the surgery, which she says took just 34 minutes. Though there is still a two to three per cent risk of ovarian cancer, it no longer seems like a ticking time bomb.
“A lot of people have said that’s a big decision but…it was interestingly powerful because I got to slightly control my own destiny,” said Greene.
The B.C. protocol has now been adopted around the world, a revolution in care that doesn’t increase complications nor increase costs.
Miller said the procedure is “better than screening, it’s actually preventing it in the first place. We’re actually very excited about this and I think we have no doubt that there will be thousands of lives saved in women who will never know their life was saved.”
-with files from Elaine Yong
Comments