Fallopian tube cancer is considered to be a very rare type of cancer, with only 1% of all reproductive cancers in women starting in the fallopian tubes.
What are the fallopian tubes?
The fallopian tubes connect a women’s ovaries to her uterus and each month, the ovaries release one egg into the fallopian tube to get fertilized by sperm or to be passed out of the body by means of menstruation.
What is fallopian tube cancer?
This cancer develops when there is an abnormal growth of malignant cells in one or both fallopian tubes. The most common type of fallopian tube cancer grows from the cells that line the fallopian tubes.
What causes this cancer?
The most common age group of women affected by fallopian tube cancer is between 40 and 65 years old. Although the cancer is rare, it is more commonly diagnosed in Caucasian women than women of colour.
Because this cancer is so rare, the causes and risk factors are not known, but it is believed that chronic inflammation of the fallopian tubes or not having had children or not having used birth control pills could be attributable risk factors.
Fallopian tube cancer treatment
As with all cancers, your treatment will depend on the stage of cancer and the patient’s age, health, and other related factors. Surgery is typically performed to remove one or both of the fallopian tubes, and can sometimes include the removal of one or both of the ovaries as well.
In more advanced cases, a total hysterectomy could have to be performed. If your oncologist thinks that chemotherapy should be done after surgery to kill remaining cancer cells, it could also form part of treatment.
What are the symptoms of fallopian tube cancer?
> Abnormal vaginal bleeding
> Vaginal discharge
> Abdominal pain
> Pelvic pain
