Had my follow up appointment post op yesterday with the surgeon who carried out my debulking surgery, albeit three weeks late due to surgeon being on holiday and last chemo.
He went through the biopsies taken from the organs he removed, and he is quite adamant the cancer started in the left Fallopian tube and spread to the Peritoneam ovaries, cervix uterus and also the tissue of the appendix.
The good news is all visual signs of cancer removed and I have healed internally well, I suppose my question is has any other ladies on this site been originally diagnosed with PPC stage 3c then been told post surgery it started in the Fallopian tube, and that treatment for all three cancers are treated the same.
Ellsey xx
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ellseybellsey
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It's now known that many high grade Ovarian cases begin at the end of the Fallopian tube with the cells spilling out over the peritoneum and Ovaries. The membrane over the surface of the ovaries and the peritoneum (which is like a thin cling film around the organs of the abdomen which doubles up over the front) have the same embryonic origin and so are basically the same thing. They are treated the same for this reason.
I have PPC but had problems with my Fallopian tubes ending in an ectopic pregnancy. The truth is with many cases, there isn't a place that the cancer definitely started from. Ovarian was once diagnosed if the ovaries were most involved, but the theory wasn't right in many cases as I've said. Doctors are learning new things all the time but they tend to be very definite about what they know until they are given new research.
ellsey, yes I was diagnosed 3C PPC, after radical open hysterectomy they discovered it was 3C high grade serous epithelial OC. And yes, treatment is the same for both.
Hi Elsey, My oncologist diagnosed me at PPC 3b after cancer was found during a hernia operation. He was called in to do a laproscopy to investigate further. Later, after 1 chemo, he did the debulking and hysterectomy where tumors were found in my Fallopian tube. So I asked him soon after if my Dx would change now to fallopian tube cancer. He just said that it's treated the same. So his answer kinda makes it hard to research either one. Do I have PPC or Fallopian tube cancer or both or is it considered one? Crazy.
I know it's difficult I ask myself the same question am I PPC or Fallopian tube, I've also been trying to look up info but noticed its treated all the same. Thanks for coming back to me.
My daughter keeps saying to me that I haven't got OC because I told her I had a rarer cancer... Clear cell.. I don't think she wants me to have OC because if all the statistics ... So I let her think that... When I was first investigated they were unsure if it was a cyst on my ovary or my uterus ... In the end I think they decided it was ovary I guess it's nice to have a understanding of what us going on but as you say they are all treated the same with slight differences depending on your onc preferences.
I am ppc 3c also and even though I had a hysterectomy years prior the doctors have to guess where it started. Mine said it might have been leftover when my right ovary was removed. The thing is they have to put something down for insurance to approve treatment. All of these diagnoses are treated the same. My doctor said ppc is rare but treated the same as oc cancer. So far it's worked but it would be nice for this rare cancer to have it's own treatment.
I have heard and read that the thinking now is that it's possible both OC and PPC may well start in the Fallopian tubes. At our coffee morning today it was mentioned again and there is a lot of research being done to confirm this. I am on chemo for recurrence in peri aortic lymph nodes at the moment . Original diagnosis PPC stage 3 c 5 years ago. No operation as too extensive . Chemo only which worked ! So I suppose Ellsey if it is proved that these cancers started in the Fallopian tubes then they will call it that if that is the case. In the beginning I used to get upset that I was told to think of my PPC as OC ! In the long run I suppose as long as the mystery of it is solved it wont matter what they call it. Take care
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