The surgical removal of a fallopian tube and an ovary.
Purpose
This surgery is performed to treat ovarian or other gynecological cancers, or infections as a result of pelvic inflammatory disease. Occasionally, removal of one or both ovaries may be done to treat endometriosis. If only one tube and ovary are removed, the woman may still be able to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term.
Description
If the procedure is performed through a laparoscope, the surgeon can avoid a large abdominal incision and can shorten recovery. With this technique, the surgeon makes a small cut through the abdominal wall just below the navel. When the laparoscope is used, the patient can be given either regional or general anesthesia; if there are no complications, …show more content…
(This is also called "surgical menopause.") In addition to these symptoms, women who lose both ovaries also lose the protection these hormones provide against heart disease and osteoporosis many years earlier than if they had experienced natural menopause. Women who have had their ovaries removed are seven times more likely to develop coronary heart disease and much more likely to develop bone problems at an early age than are premenopausal women whose ovaries are intact.
For these reasons, some form of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) may be prescribed to relieve the symptoms of surgical menopause and to help prevent heart and bone disease.
In addition, to help offset the higher risks of heart and bone disease after loss of the ovaries, women should get plenty of exercise, maintain a low-fat diet, and ensure intake of calcium is adequate.
Reaction to the removal of fallopian tubes and ovaries depends on a wide variety of factors, including the woman's age, the condition that required the surgery, her reproductive history, how much social support she has, and any previous history of depression. Women who have had many gynecological surgeries or chronic pelvic pain seem to have a higher tendency to develop psychological problems after the