Ovarian ablation as a treatment for breast cancer.

Ovarian ablation is an effective treatment for premenopausal women with hormone receptor positive breast cancer. It can be achieved permanently by surgery or radiotherapy and reversibly by LhRH agonists. This paper discusses the evidence that it is an effective adjuvant therapy and defines the place of oophorectomy in the management of such patients. The achievement of an amenhorreic state is important and chemotherapy may well exert some of its effects by causing ovarian suppression. The use of LhRH agonists in managing such patients is discussed.