EVALUATION OF ADJUVANT THERAPY AFTER SURGERY FOR PRIMARY-CARCINOMA OFTHE FALLOPIAN-TUBE

Objective: To evaluate the impact of postoperative therapy (chemothera py vs. irradiation) on overall survival. Design: A nationwide retrospe ctive analysis. Setting: Hanusch-Krankenhaus, Department of Gynaecolog y. Subjects: 115 patients with histologically proved primary carcinoma of the Fallopian tube: 49 received six treatment cycles of a cis-plat inum regimen (group I), 24 patients were treated by full irradiation u sing 50 Gray minimum (group II). The two groups had a similar distribu tion of stage I and II; in the more advanced stages chemotherapy was t he predominant method of treatment. Results: The five-year survival ra te was 53% for women receiving irradiation as against 27% for those gi ven cis-platinum. If the analysis was restricted to those patients wit h comparable stage I and stage II lesions, the p-value (0.07) was of b orderline significance. There was no advantage in adding abdominal to pelvic irradiation (P = 0.62). Conclusions: Stage I and stage II carci noma is probably better treated postoperatively by radiotherapy than c hemotherapy. Chemotherapy may have more therapeutic potential in patie nts with more advanced lesions.