Source
Department of Surgery, Division of Gynecology, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To propose a new theory describing the development of the fallopian tube fimbria.
DESIGN:
Case series report.
SETTING:
Metropolitan tertiary care children's hospital.
PATIENT(S):
Two girls, aged 12 and 20 years, who presented with pelvic pain.
INTERVENTION(S):
Magnetic resonance imaging, laparoscopy with salpingectomy, and pathologic analysis.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S):
Description of a novel theory regarding the embryologic development of the fallopian tube and its fimbria.
RESULT(S):
In two non-sexually active girls the cause of their pelvic pain was found to be a hydrosalpinx associated with a discontinuous fallopian tube in which the fimbriated end did not directly communicate with the remainder of the fallopian tube.
CONCLUSION(S):
The two cases of pure congenital fallopian tube atresia, the presence of fimbriae in patients with müllerian (uterine, cervical, and vaginal) agenesis, and the role of the fimbria in ovarian-like and peritoneal cancers, support a novel hypothesis that the fimbria of the fallopian tube may arise separately from the rest of the tube.