[Primary fallopian tube cancer--an Austrian multicenter study]

Incidence and prognostic factors of primary carcinomas of the Fallopian tubes were studied in a retrospective multi-centre analysis of 81 women during the period of 1980 to 1990. Data from 13 departments (university as well as general hospitals) were included in the present study which was designed to evaluate the state-of-the-art of diagnosis and treatment of carcinoma of the Fallopian tubes in Austria, and to compare the results with those from the literature. Stages were classified according to the modified FIGO-system for ovarian cancer; grading followed the criteria of Hu, Taylor and Hertig. The mean age of the patients was 62.1 years. Thirty-seven (45.7%) tumours were found to be in stage I, sixteen (19.8%) in stage II, nineteen (23.4%) in stage III, and nine (11.1%) tumours in stage IV. In 66 Patients, the tumour could be radically removed. The surgical method applied in 68 cases was removal of the uterus, the adnexa, and/or the omentum, or lymph nodes. Post-operatively, patients underwent an adjuvant therapy which was either irradiation (n = 32; 39.5%), or chemotherapy (n = 34; 42.0%). Fifteen patients had no therapy after operation. The five-year survival rate for stages I and II was 75% compared to 17% in stages III and IV.