A study has found that women who have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation should have their ovaries surgically removed by 35 to help reduce their chance of suffering from ovarian cancer.
According to CBS News, the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that women who undergo the procedure, a prophylactic oophorectomy, reduce their chances of death before 70 by a staggering 77 percent.
Study author, Dr. Steven Narod, University of Toronto professor of medicine, said, "To me, waiting to have oophorectomy until after 35 is too much of a chance to take."
The study followed 5,783 women for six years, reports the Toronto Star. The risk was reduced by about 80 percent in the studied women for ovarian, peritoneal and Fallopian tube cancers.
The study done at the Women's College Hospital found that for women who waited until they were in their 40s or 50s for an oophorectomy, their chances of developing cancer increased 4 to 14.2 percent.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are normally there to help fight against tumor growth, but mutations to the genes instead lead to an increased risk of developing cancer.
Actress Angelina Jolie has made it known that she will be undergoing the surgical procedure as she discovered she has the gene mutation.