What should you know about ovarian cancer hysterectomy?

For ovarian cancer, surgery is planned around where the disease is found, its extent, your general health, and whether preserving fertility is medically reasonable. A hysterectomy removes the uterus; it does not by itself remove the ovaries. The operation may therefore be paired with an oophorectomy, which removes one or both ovaries, and with removal of other tissue identified by the gynaecological oncology team.

Removing both ovaries causes an abrupt loss of ovarian hormone production and means pregnancy cannot occur without previously preserved eggs or embryos and specialist assistance. Ask whether the cervix, fallopian tubes, ovaries, or other tissue also need removal. Your team can explain whether surgery is intended to remove visible disease, obtain tissue for diagnosis, or both.

Request a clear surgical plan before consent: which organs may be removed, whether the approach is open or minimally invasive, how long hospital recovery may take, and what additional treatment could follow. Imaging such as a pelvic ultrasound may help assess pelvic findings, while genomic tumour profiling can sometimes add information used in treatment planning.

If future pregnancy matters to you, raise fertility preservation before surgery. Discuss menopause symptoms, sexual wellbeing, emotional support, wound care, activity restrictions, and medicines. A second opinion from a gynaecological oncology service can be useful when the proposed operation or fertility implications are unclear.

After surgery, contact your team promptly for fever, worsening abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, increasing redness or discharge from the wound, heavy vaginal bleeding, difficulty passing urine, new breathlessness, or one-sided leg swelling. Seek urgent help for severe breathlessness, chest pain, fainting, or sudden confusion.

Before treatment, urgent assessment is appropriate for severe pain with persistent vomiting, fainting, or rapidly increasing abdominal swelling. These symptoms do not identify ovarian cancer on their own, but they should not wait for a routine appointment.

Which organs do you recommend removing, and why? Could the operation affect fertility or trigger menopause? What symptoms should prompt a call after discharge? Will I need chemotherapy, further surgery, or supportive care? Who will coordinate follow-up and pathology results?