ABSTRACT
Fallopian tube is the least common site of malignant neoplasms of female genital tracts. Fallopian tube cancer can be classiied into the following:
(a) primary fallopian tube cancer (either arising from tubal mucosa, pre-existing endometriosis or rarely from a mature teratoma)
(b) metastatic fallopian tube cancer from ovary, uterus or peritoneum
(c) synchronous tumour arising simultaneously from uterus, ovary or peritoneum
The most common type of fallopian tube carcinoma is metastatic, e.g. occurs in 50% of carcinoma of the ovary, 12% of uterine cancer and 4% of cervical carcinoma. Primary fallopian tube carcinoma is an uncommon tumour accounting for 0.14%–1.8% of female genital malignancies. Approximately, 1200 cases of primary fallopian tube carcinoma have been reported in the literature. Primary fallopian tube carcinoma is rare: one third presented at stage 1, one third at stage 2 while another one third presented at stage 3 and 4. The theoretical incidence of primary fallopian tube cancer is 3-3.6 per million women per year. Stroma and muscular walls of fallopian tube, uterine corpus and cervix are all formed from the mesenchyme that surrounds the paramesonephric duct. The US incidence rate for primary fallopian tube cancer was 0.41 per 100,000; similar to those reported in Denmark (0.3) and Finland (0.5).
