Background: Primary fallopian tube carcinoma (PFTC) is a rare gynecologic malignancy with very few data existing on the activity of the combination of paclitaxel with a platinum analogue as adjuvant chemotherapy.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 41 consecutive patients with PFTC who were treated postoperatively with paclitaxel- and platinum-containing chemotherapy regimens.
Results: We observed 12 (63.2%) complete and 6 (31.6%) partial responses among 19 patients with measurable disease. The median time to disease progression (TTP) for all patients was 68 months. The median overall survival (OS) for all patients has not been reached yet. The median TTP was 84 months for patients with stage I/II disease and 34 months for patients with advanced disease (p = 0.017). Median OS has not been reached yet for patients with stage I/II PFTC, while it was 63.8 months for patients with stage III/IV disease (p = 0.002). Furthermore, OS has not been reached yet for patients with optimally debulked tumors, while it was 34.1 months for patients with residual disease >2 cm (p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: Adjuvant platinum- and paclitaxel-based chemotherapy should be regarded as the standard treatment in patients with PFTC. Early stage disease and optimal debulking are associated with improved TTP and OS.
Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.