？Se justifica la ooforectomía profiláctica en histerectomías?

objective: to evaluate oophorectomy as prophylactic measure to reduce ovarian cancer in women with history of hysterectomy and ovarian conservation secondary to a benign cause, who consulted from january 2000 to december 2006. methods: a retrospective observational, descriptive and transversal study was performed by reviewing medical charts, and gathering the data in a designed collection form. statistical analysis was made by using spss 12 software. setting: instituto autonomo hospital universitario de los andes results: from a total of 1 030 hysterectomies reviewed in a 7 year period, 603 were performed secondary to a benign cause; and in 423 of them one or both ovaries were not removed. from 490 cases of patients with diagnosis of ovarian tumor, only 35 patients had history of previous hysterectomy. out of these 35 patients, 30 (18 institutional) patients had biopsy report of the ovarian tumor after diagnosis: 68.6 % were benign, 17.1 % were malignant, and 14.3 % were undetermined. it was established that the risk of ovarian cancer in patients who underwent hysterectomy due to a benign cause with ovarian conservation was 0.23 % to 1.37 %. 423 routine oophorectomies would be necessary to prevent one case of ovarian cancer (number needed to treat: 423). conclusion: prophylactic oophorectomy is not justified for this purpose.