Supplement to Pathology and the Conserved Ovary: A Statistical Survey From the Thesis Ovarian Activity Following Hysterectomy

Whitelaw, Robert G (1956) Supplement to Pathology and the Conserved Ovary: A Statistical Survey From the Thesis Ovarian Activity Following Hysterectomy. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The object of this survey was to obtain statistical information concerning the incidence of pathological change, and in particular of malignant change, in ovaries conserved at hysterectomy. The subject is an important one as the possibility of the conserved ovary subsequently becoming diseased has been used to justify routine oophorectomy when the uterus has to be removed for a benign condition. Precise information on this question is difficult to obtain, and no important investigation of this problem would appear to have been undertaken recently in this country. Reycraft (1955) in a survey of the records of the Cleveland University Hospitals from 1944 to 1955 found 9 cases of carcinoma in ovaries which had been conserved at hysterectomy, an incidence of .2. Counsellor Hunt and Eaigler (1955) surveyed 1,500 cases of proved carcinoma of the ovary, and found that 67 of these occurred in women who had previously had the uterus removed for a benign condition. Rendall and Gerhardt (1954), basing their calculations on the statistics of the Health Departments of the States of Connecticut and Hew York (excluding Hew York City), estimate that the likelihood of a woman who has reached the age of forty developing carcinoma of the ovaries is .9/. In a survey of 1,215 cases of hysterectomy with conservation of one or both ovaries performed during the years 1927-1955 in the Glasgow Royal Samaritan Hospital for Women, it was found that four of the patients were subsequently readmitted to that hospital on account of ovarian pathology. Ho case of readmission for malignant ovarian disease was discovered. In a parallel series of 872 cases of oophorectomy, ovariotomy, and laparotomy for inoperable conditions which may have been ovarian, it was found that four of the patients had previously had the uterus removed. One of these was a case of adenocarcinoma of the ovary but doubt was expressed by the pathologist concerning the origin of the tumour. While the limitations of these surveys are appreciated and stated, it is felt that they indicate that the risk of malignant disease developing in ovaries conserved at hysterectomy has probably been exaggerated by some gynaecologists who argue that when hysterectomy is performed for a benign condition, the ovaries ought also to be removed lest they should subsequently undergo neoplastic change.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Medicine, Pathology
• Date of Award: 1956
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1956-79184
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 05 Mar 2020 11:31
• Last Modified: 05 Mar 2020 11:31
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/79184