ABSTRACT
Epidemiology In the United States, Fallopian tube carcinoma has an average annual incidence o f
approximately 3.6 cases per million women.2 The peak incidence is approximately 56 years o f age with cases described in a range from 18 to 88. Some evidence suggests that the incidence o f Fallopian tube carcinoma is increasing, at least in part due to the aging population.3 Proposed risk factors for the development o f Fallopian tube carcinoma include chronic inflammation due to pelvic infections, pelvic tuberculosis and tubal endometriosis.4 As with ovarian cancer, a definite association between Fallopian tube carcinoma and BRCA germ line mutations has been noted with a 16% rate o f BRCA1 or 2 mutations in patients with Fallopian tube carcinomas. This rate is far higher that the 0.24% prevalence o f BRCA 1 mutations in the general population.5·6 Prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy has been advocated to reduce the risk o f ovarian and Fallopian tube cancer in BRCA positive women. The surgical quandary involves whether or not to remove the uterus as a small portion o f the Fallopian tube may remain imbedded in the uterine cornua.
