Ovarian cancer after hysterectomy.

Hysterectomy is the most common major operative procedure in the United States. The present review of 291 women with primary ovarian cancer of the epithelial cell type from the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area reveals 41 (14%) had a prior hysterectomy. The hysterectomies were performed abdominally in 80% of women at an average age of 41 years and vaginally in 20% at an average age of 46 years. The interval between hysterectomy and discovery of ovarian cancer was ten years in the vaginal group and 18 years in the abdominal group. Women who had their ovaries retained at hysterectomy and later developed invasive ovarian cancer had approximately an 80% mortality.