Clinical and Ultrasound Characteristics of Tubal Carcinoma: A Short Review

Primary carcinoma of the fallopian tube is one of the rarest gynecological malignancies, accounting for 0.18% to 1.6% of all malignant neoplasms of the female reproductive tract, and typically presents in the 5th and the 6th decades of life. The etiology of fallopian tube carcinoma is unknown. However, association with nulliparity and infertility and history of tuberculosis and salpingitis/pelvic inflammatory disease has been described. Most carcinomas of the fallopian tube are adenocarcinomas and its commonest variant is serous papillary carcinoma; however, clear cell carcinoma, endometrioid carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma have been reported to arise from the fallopian tubes. The most frequent clinical symptoms at presentation are vaginal discharge or bleeding and lower abdominal pain, and the most frequent clinical findings are a palpable pelvic and/or abdominal mass and suspicion of ascites. Tubal cancer usually spreads in an intraperitoneal, lymphatic, and hematogenous manner. Treatment is similar to that for ovarian carcinoma and includes cytoreductive surgery and chemotherapy with a combination of platinum and taxane. The most typical ultrasound feature of tubal cancer seems to be a sausage shaped solid mass or a sausage shaped or hydrosalpinx like structure with solid tissue projecting into it.