Carcinoma of the fallopian tube: clinical management.

From 1970 to 1986, 36 women were diagnosed to have primary fallopian tube cancer. Fifty-three percent of the patients were Stage III with a median adjusted survival of 27 months. Although varied adjunctive therapies were employed, none provided a clear survival benefit. Five "second-look" procedures were performed. Only one was negative, occurring in a Stage IIIC patient treated with combination chemotherapy. She has continued without evidence of disease 26 months following diagnosis. Recurrent disease was uniformly fatal, despite efforts at salvage therapy. Disease biology and response to therapy parallels that of similar stage epithelial carcinoma of the ovary.