transitional cell metaplasia of fallopian tube fimbriae

Transitional cell metaplasia is a benign epithelial alteration that is a common finding in the serosa of the tube but is underrecognized in the tubal fimbriae, where it may mimic tubal intraepithelial carcinoma.

Transitional cell metaplasia of the fimbriae is a common benign finding in RRSO specimens that should not be confused with the much less common finding of tubal intraepithelial carcinoma.

Differential diagnosis

 tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (18830124)

• Germline mutations in the hereditary breast/ovary carcinoma genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 confer increased lifetime risk for ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal carcinoma. This risk can be minimized by prophylactic surgery.
• Risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) provides 2 potential benefits: long-term cancer risk reduction and immediate detection of occult early carcinoma, which frequently arises in the tubal fimbriae.
• Recognition of occult early tubal carcinoma is challenging because it is often microscopic in size and can be confined to the fimbrial epithelium without invasion.

References

 Transitional cell metaplasia of fallopian tube fimbriae: a potential mimic of early tubal carcinoma in risk reduction salpingo-oophorectomies from women With BRCA mutations. Rabban JT, Crawford B, Chen LM, Powell CB, Zaloudek CJ. Am J Surg Pathol. 2009 Jan;33(1):111-9. PMID: 18830124