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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.
Dr
.
PROTECTOR Study Team
bci-protector@qmul.ac.uk
Dr
Ranjit
Manchanda
r.manchanda@qmul.ac.uk
More information about this study, what is involved and how to take part can be found on the study website.
Prevention of ovarian cancer
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Background and study aims
Some women have an inheritable fault in their genetic code which increases their risk of developing ovarian cancer. Genes in which a fault may lie are BRCA1/ BRCA2/ RAD51C/ RAD51D/ BRIP1. Some women with a strong family history of ovarian cancer or breast and ovarian cancer may also be at increased risk. There is currently no screening programme for ovarian cancer available on the NHS. Therefore current practice is to offer women at increased risk, once they have completed their family, an operation to remove their fallopian tubes and ovaries. This procedure is called risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy. This is the best known way to prevent ovarian cancer in women at increased risk. However, in women who are premenopausal it leads to early menopause. Early menopause has serious health implications. It results in menopausal type symptoms (e.g. hot flushes, changes in mood, reduced sex drive), increased risk of osteoporosis (brittle bones), heart disease, stroke, dementia and sexual problems. Research suggests many ovarian cancers start in the fallopian tube. This has led to the proposal of an alternative strategy to prevent ovarian cancer. This involves having the operation in two stages. The first operation involves removing the fallopian tubes alone. This is called 'early salpingectomy’. The second operation removes the ovaries after natural menopause (average age 51 in the UK). This is called 'delayed oophorectomy’. The advantage of this two-stage alternative is that it offers some protection against ovarian cancer in young women whilst avoiding negative health consequences of early menopause.
The PROTECTOR study aims to find out how many ovarian cancers happen after removing the tubes. This will help us assess how effective having just the tubes removed is for reducing the risk of ovarian cancer (i.e. what the precise level of ovarian cancer risk reduction is). This would help policy makers to decide whether this two-step procedure (RRESDO) should be recommended in routine clinical practice. The study will also carry out an economic evaluation to see whether this is affordable for the NHS.
The PROTECTOR study will also assess people’s views and the impact of this two-step procedure on sexual function, hormone levels, quality of life and overall satisfaction. We will compare RRESDO to the traditional approach of removing both the tubes and ovaries in the same operation (RRSO). We will also compare this to the well-being of individuals who choose not to have an operation.
Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.
The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:
2021 Protocol article in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32907814/ protocol (added 11/09/2020)
You can take part if:
Current inclusion criteria as of 14/10/2025:
1. Women at increased risk of ovarian cancer: BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers; BRIP1/PALB2/RAD51C/RAD51D mutation carriers; strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer or ovarian cancer alone.
2. Premenopausal
3. Aged ≥30 years.
4. Completed family (for surgical
You may not be able to take part if:
Current exclusion criteria as of 14/10/2025:
1. Previous bilateral-salpingectomy or bilateral-oophorectomy.2. Postmenopausal (amenorrhoea ≥1year (uterus in situ) / FSH >40).3. Previous tubal/ovarian/peritoneal malignancy4. <3 months post cancer treatment5. Pregnancy6. Clinical suspicion of tubal/ovarian cancer at baseline7. Inability to provide informed consent
_____
Previous exclusion criteria as of 14/10/2025:
1. Previous bilateral-salpingectomy or bilateral-oophorectomy.2. Postmenopausal (amenorrhoea ≥1year (uterus in situ) / FSH >40).3. Previous tubal/ovarian/peritoneal malignancy4. <12 months post cancer treatment5. Pregnancy6. Clinical suspicion of tubal/ovarian cancer at baseline7. Inability to provide informed consent
Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.
Dr
.
PROTECTOR Study Team
bci-protector@qmul.ac.uk
Dr
Ranjit
Manchanda
r.manchanda@qmul.ac.uk
More information about this study, what is involved and how to take part can be found on the study website.
The study is sponsored by Queen Mary University of London and funded by Barts and the London Charity.
Your feedback is important to us. It will help us improve the quality of the study information on this site. Please answer both questions.
Or CPMS 39196
You can print or share the study information with your GP/healthcare provider or contact the research team directly.
