In the study of Lu et al, four (12%) of 33 women (mean age 46 years) with a high calculated risk of carrying a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, who had undergone prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy, had occult ovarian cancer found only at pathological examination (Lu et al, 2000). This evidence concerns the gene BRCA1 and ovarian carcinoma.