PRIMARY-CARCINOMA OF THE FALLOPIAN-TUBE - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF47 PATIENTS

Background: Fallopian tube carcinoma is a rare disease, and few data a bout prognostic factors are available in the literature. Patients and methods: The medical charts of 47 patients with primary carcinoma of t he fallopian tube treated at our institution between 1982 and 1994 wer e reviewed. Age, stage, histologic grade, residual disease after surge ry, peritoneal cytology and lymph-node involvement were evaluated for their prognostic impact in a univariate analysis. Results: The mean ag e of the patients was 57.5 years and 19 of them (40%) had early-stage disease. Poorly differentiated tumors were diagnosed in 64% of the pat ients. Eleven of 20 patients (55%) submitted to surgical evaluation of lymphnodes had retroperitoneal involvement. Thirty-three patients rec eived CAP chemotherapy following surgery, and the overall clinical res ponse rate was 80%. Sixteen patients (34%) had recurrences within 8 to 50 months from diagnosis. Twenty patients (42.6%) are alive without d isease, one patient is alive with tumor, and 26 patients (55.3%) died of the disease. The median survival for the group as a whole was 44 mo nths, and the actuarial 5-year survival was 29%. In univariate analysi s stage (I+II vs. III+IV), grade (G1+G2 vs. G3) residual disease after surgery (less than 2 cm vs. greater than 2 cm), peritoneal cytology ( negative vs. positive) and lymph-node metastases were all factors sign ificantly affecting survival. Conclusions: Aggressive cytoreductive su rgery followed by platin-based chemotherapy offer the possibility of l ongterm control of primary tubal carcinoma.