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Not entirely — and that is the honest answer rather than a discouraging one. Risk can be lowered substantially, and for women at high hereditary risk by around 80%. What matters is knowing which measures apply to you, because they differ enormously by risk level.
No, not entirely. There is no measure that eliminates ovarian cancer risk, and anyone offering one is overreaching. Even removing the ovaries and fallopian tubes — the most effective intervention that exists — leaves a small residual risk of primary peritoneal cancer, because the peritoneum shares an origin with the ovarian surface and cannot be removed.
But substantially, yes. Risk can be lowered meaningfully for most women and dramatically for some. For a woman at high hereditary risk, risk-reducing surgery cuts ovarian cancer risk by around eighty per cent. For a woman at population risk, combined hormonal contraception reduces it substantially, and having the fallopian tubes removed during pelvic surgery she is already having adds further protection at essentially no cost.
The reason this question is answered so badly online is that the honest answer has two parts and depends entirely on which group you are in. Advice aimed at BRCA carriers is alarming and irrelevant to most readers; advice aimed at the general population sounds dismissive to a carrier. So the first useful step is not a list of measures — it is finding out where you actually sit.
Even risk-reducing surgery leaves a small residual peritoneal risk. Prevention here is partial by nature.
Around 80% for high-risk women with surgery; substantial reduction from contraception at population risk.
What applies to a BRCA carrier and to a woman at population risk barely overlaps. Establish which you are first.
Ovarian cancer prevention has been reshaped by a shift in understanding of where the disease begins. Detailed examination of tissue removed during risk-reducing surgery found early precursor lesions consistently in the fimbrial end of the fallopian tube rather than on the ovary itself, and the current view is that a substantial proportion of what we call ovarian cancer starts in the tube. That single finding is why the tubes are removed completely during risk-reducing surgery, and why opportunistic salpingectomy — taking the tubes during an operation a woman is already having — is now offered as a prevention measure. Source: NCCN Ovarian Cancer guidelines; published pathology of risk-reducing surgery specimens.
The measures differ substantially. Find your row before reading anything else about prevention.
| Risk level | Who this is | What is actually offered |
|---|---|---|
| Population risk | No significant family history, no known variant. Most women. | Combined contraception if suitable; salpingectomy at other pelvic surgery; symptom awareness. |
| Moderately raised | One close relative affected, or endometriosis, without a variant found. | The above, plus genetic counselling to establish whether testing is warranted. |
| High hereditary risk | Confirmed BRCA1, BRCA2, Lynch or another high-risk variant. | Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is the principal intervention, timed by gene and family plans. |
| Strong family history, no variant found | Striking pedigree, testing negative or uninformative. | Managed on the family history rather than the test. Individualised discussion. |
| Any level | Everyone. | Symptom awareness. Screening is not offered as protection at any risk level. |
*Most women reading this are in the first row. Genetic counselling is what distinguishes the second row from the third, and it costs nothing at CION.
Ordered by how much difference each makes, with an honest note on who it applies to.
Removing both ovaries and both fallopian tubes lowers ovarian cancer risk by approximately eighty per cent. Nothing else comes close, and for a woman at high hereditary risk it is the central intervention rather than one option among several.
It is also, deliberately, not offered at population risk — because it causes immediate surgical menopause, with real long-term consequences for bone and cardiovascular health. Applied to a woman whose lifetime risk is one to two per cent, it would do more harm than good. Timing depends on the gene and on completing a family. See risk-reducing surgery.
The best-evidenced measure available to women at population risk. Combined oral contraception substantially reduces ovarian cancer risk, the effect increases with duration of use, and it persists for years after stopping. The reduction has been observed in BRCA carriers too.
It carries its own considerations, including a small effect on breast cancer risk that matters particularly for carriers, and it is not suitable for everyone. It should be discussed with a doctor as a genuine trade-off rather than started on the strength of a webpage.
The most actionable measure on this list, because it costs nothing extra to a woman already having pelvic surgery. Where a hysterectomy is planned, or permanent contraception requested, removing the fallopian tubes rather than simply tying them appears to reduce ovarian cancer risk further.
The ovaries are left in place, so there is no surgical menopause and no hormonal consequence. It is not always offered proactively, which makes it worth asking about explicitly if you are having pelvic surgery and your family is complete.
Not a prevention measure in itself, but the step that determines whether the most effective measures are available to you at all. A woman who does not know that breast and ovarian cancer run down her father's side cannot access risk-reducing surgery, because nobody knows she needs it.
Building a three-generation history from both sides costs nothing and takes an evening. Where it meets recognised criteria, genetic counselling follows — and at CION that is delivered in-house. See family history.
This belongs on the page with an honest label: knowing the symptoms does not prevent ovarian cancer. What it does is shorten the gap between a pattern appearing and someone competent looking at it, and in a disease with no effective screening that gap is where a great deal is lost.
The four symptoms are persistent bloating, feeling full quickly, pelvic or abdominal pain, and urinary urgency — counted when new within the past year and present on more than twelve days a month. See the symptom checklist.
This needs stating clearly because it is the most consequential misunderstanding in this area. Screening does not prevent cancer under any circumstances; at best it detects it earlier. And ovarian screening specifically has not been shown to reduce ovarian cancer deaths, in the general population or in high-risk women.
Believing you are protected because you have annual tests is worse than knowing you are not, because it can delay acting on symptoms. There is no ovarian equivalent of cervical or bowel screening, both of which work by finding and removing a precancerous stage. See high-risk surveillance.
No measure removes risk entirely. Report these symptoms whatever steps you have or have not taken.
New within the past year and present on more than 12 days a month. See persistent bloating.
Early satiety — unable to finish meals you managed easily six months ago.
A dull persistent ache present most days. Persistence matters more than severity.
Passing urine more often or urgently, with urine tests that come back clear.
A small residual peritoneal risk remains. New persistent abdominal symptoms still warrant assessment.
Losing weight without trying always warrants assessment, whatever your risk profile.
"My ovaries were removed" is not a reason to dismiss new persistent abdominal symptoms. The reduction is around 80%, not 100%.
Almost everything about ovarian cancer prevention depends on risk level, and most women have never had theirs assessed. That assessment is a conversation, not a test.
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No referral needed and no cost for the first consultation. Genetic counselling is in-house at CION if your family history warrants assessment.
The reason prevention advice for ovarian cancer reads so badly is that the useful answer requires knowing something about you first. A generic list is either alarming to most readers or useless to the few who most need it, and the internet has no way of telling which you are.
Your first consultation at CION is free and runs to about 45 minutes, and the most useful part is usually the risk assessment rather than the advice. A three-generation family history from both sides establishes which row of the table above you are in — and for most women the outcome is a well-founded reassurance that population-level measures are what apply, which is a real result rather than a wasted visit.
Where a family history warrants it, genetic counselling and BRCA and HRD testing are delivered in-house at CION, so assessment, testing and the plan afterwards happen with one team. Where cancer does develop, chemotherapy and maintenance therapy are delivered in-house across 35+ centres in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Risk-reducing and gynaecologic-oncology surgery is coordinated with specialist partner centres and may be billed there.
Free and unhurried. The risk assessment is the useful part, and it takes a proper family history to do.
For most women the answer is that population-level measures apply. Knowing that with confidence is worth having.
Where the family history warrants it, assessment, testing and the plan happen with one team.
Screening is not prevention and does not save lives here. No supplement reduces ovarian cancer risk.
If advice you were given some years ago differs from this page, that is not inconsistency — the field has genuinely moved, and in two specific ways worth understanding.
The first is the fallopian tube origin of much high-grade serous cancer. That reshaped risk-reducing surgery, which now removes the tubes completely rather than leaving a stump, and it created the case for opportunistic salpingectomy in women at ordinary risk who are having pelvic surgery anyway. Neither was standard practice two decades ago.
The second is the accumulated evidence on screening. Large randomised trials reported results that were disappointing but decisive, and the position shifted from "screening may help, we are studying it" to "screening has not been shown to reduce deaths". That is why surveillance is now offered to high-risk women with explicit caveats rather than as reassurance — and why the emphasis moved so firmly onto risk-reducing surgery for those who need it.
Complete removal of the tubes, and the case for opportunistic salpingectomy at other operations.
Large trials shifted the position from "may help" to "not shown to reduce deaths".
For high-risk women, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy carries the weight that screening cannot.
Staying connected to a genetics service means your plan is reviewed rather than frozen at old advice.
No. There is no measure that eliminates ovarian cancer risk entirely, and anyone offering one is overreaching. Even risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy — removing both ovaries and both fallopian tubes, the most effective intervention available — reduces risk by around eighty per cent rather than one hundred, because a small residual risk of primary peritoneal cancer remains. The peritoneum shares an embryological origin with the ovarian surface and cannot be removed. What is genuinely achievable is substantial risk reduction, and how much depends heavily on your risk level.
It depends entirely on which risk group you are in, which is why generic answers fail here. If you carry a BRCA1, BRCA2 or Lynch syndrome variant, risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy is by far the most effective intervention, cutting risk by around eighty per cent. If you are at population risk — which most women are — the best-evidenced measure is combined hormonal contraception, and the most actionable is asking for your fallopian tubes to be removed rather than tied if you are already having pelvic surgery and your family is complete.
No, on two counts. First, screening never prevents cancer under any circumstances — at best it detects it earlier, which is a different thing. Second, and more importantly here, ovarian screening with CA-125 and transvaginal ultrasound has not been shown to reduce ovarian cancer deaths, in the general population or in high-risk women including BRCA carriers. There is no ovarian equivalent of cervical or bowel screening, both of which work because they find and remove a precancerous stage. Believing annual tests protect you is worse than knowing they do not, because it can delay acting on symptoms.
Build the family history properly and seek genetic counselling. For each affected blood relative, record which cancer, their age at diagnosis, and exactly how they are related to you — kept clearly separate by side of the family, since a hereditary variant travels down one line. Include bowel, endometrial, pancreatic and prostate cancer alongside breast and ovarian, and include male relatives, because BRCA and Lynch pass through fathers as readily as mothers. That assessment determines whether the most effective measures apply to you at all, and it costs nothing at CION.
If you are already having pelvic surgery and your family is complete, yes — it is genuinely worth raising. Because much high-grade serous ovarian cancer appears to begin in the fallopian tube, removing the tubes rather than simply tying them during a hysterectomy or a permanent contraception procedure appears to reduce ovarian cancer risk further. The ovaries stay in place, so there is no surgical menopause and no hormonal consequence, and it adds little to an operation already being performed. It is not always offered proactively, so ask explicitly.
No supplement, superfood, cleanse or detox regimen has been shown to reduce ovarian cancer risk, and anything sold on that basis is being sold rather than evidenced. Not smoking reduces the risk of one less common subtype and a great many other things besides. Maintaining a healthy weight is associated with lower risk of several cancers, though the association is much stronger for endometrial than for ovarian cancer. These are worth doing on their own merits — they are simply not an ovarian cancer prevention strategy, and describing them as one overstates what they achieve.
Yes. The first consultation is free and runs to about 45 minutes, and the most useful part is usually the risk assessment rather than the advice — establishing which risk group you are actually in, which determines what applies to you. For most women the outcome is a well-founded reassurance that population-level measures are what is relevant. Genetic counselling and BRCA and HRD testing are delivered in-house at CION where family history warrants assessment. Risk-reducing and gynaecologic-oncology surgery is coordinated with specialist partner centres and may be billed there.