Overall survival in BRCA-associated ovarian cancer: case-control study of an Italian series

About 10% of all ovarian cancers are due to BRCA 1 and/or BRCA 2 mutations. Some studies have shown that patients belonging to this group have a better survival compared to sporadic groups but data are still inconclusive. The aim of this study was to investigate overall survival in patients with ovarian cancer and germ-line mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes in comparison to high-risk patients, defined as patients with ovarian cancer and a strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer, but who tested negative for the BRCA mutation. We collected all the clinical features and did follow-up. The two groups showed similar characteristics concerning age at diagnosis, histological type and stage. Grade 3 was more frequent in the BRCA group. Survival data did not show any advantage for the BRCA mutated group.