There is no screening for ovarian cancer and, by the time it is identified, it can be hard to treat: those with the most common type of ovarian cancer (high grade serous cancer) have a five-year survival rate of less than 50 percent.
Research shows that up to 70 percent of ovarian cancer starts in the fallopian tubes and the use of salpingectomy, the surgical removal of the fallopian tubes before cancer develops, has been shown to reduce ovarian cancer by 65-80 percent.
So why do most women – and even many doctors – not know about salpingectomy, a proven ovarian cancer prevention technique used for 20 years?
The Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, working with Break Through Cancer and the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, is trying to answer that question as part of the Outsmart Ovarian Cancer project. CCP’s role is to co-create solutions to increase knowledge about the removal of the fallopian tubes as an ovarian cancer prevention method.
“The wider use of salpingectomy could prevent many new cases of cancer,” says CCP’s Erica Nybro, one of those working on the project. “Women and their doctors just need to understand it is an option, especially for women who are already seeking hysterectomies, tubal ligation, or other abdominal surgeries.”
Says August Summers, who leads CCP’s domestic initiatives: “We are engaging with members of this community directly and incorporating a trauma-informed lens into this work which will inform the solutions developed.”
Surgery to remove fallopian tubes sterilizes a woman and is not reversible. It is similar to – but significantly less common – than another form of birth control called tubal ligation, or getting the fallopian tubes tied. In a tubal ligation, fallopian tubes remain, but they are no longer able to ferry eggs from the ovaries to the uterus for pregnancy. And the risk of ovarian cancer remains.
With salpingectomy, ovarian cancer risk is dramatically reduced. Salpingectomy can be done as an add-on procedure when a woman is undergoing another form of abdominal surgery, and it adds minimal cost and risk.
While removing the fallopian tubes is a permanent form of birth control, women who have the procedure can have future children through in-vitro fertilization (IVF).
Developing the right solutions to educate people about salpingectomy, particularly in women who are done childbearing, will rely heavily on a human-centered design (HCD) approach that engages a wide range of stakeholders from patients to doctors and surgeons to family planning providers to insurance companies and professional societies.
In January, CCP will gather a group of these stakeholders in Baltimore, who will participate in an HCD workshop to develop solutions that will resonate with both patients and providers to provide this potentially life-saving information.
This project marks another collaboration between CCP and the rest of Johns Hopkins University. It also brings CCP’s expertise in HCD, community engagement and social and behavior change communication to a new audience.
“We’re seeing an increased recognition of the transformative power of empathy and research-driven design,” says Danielle Piccinini Black, CCP’s design innovation lead. “It’s a clear signal that more and more people are realizing the profound impact that putting human experience at the core of innovation can have, not just in healthcare, but in shaping the future of public health overall.
