Forty-three cases of primary tubal adenocarcinoma were treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center between 1979 and 1989. Thirty-eight patients who received cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy following primary surgery were reviewed. The mean patient age was 59 years, with 86% postmenopausal. Distribution by stage was as follows: I, 3 (7%); II, 4 (11%); III, 27 (71%); and IV, 4 (11%). Median follow-up from the time of diagnosis was 62 months (range, 5-132). Overall survival for all 38 patients by Kaplan-Meier analysis was 51% at 5 years. Excluding stage I, patients with no residual disease following surgery had a significantly higher 5-year survival (83%) than those left with gross residual disease (28%). Twenty-six patients underwent a second-look procedure. Of the 21 patients with advanced (stages III, IV) disease undergoing reexploration, 11 (52%) had a negative second-look and 10 (48%) were positive. Ten of the eleven patients with a negative second-look remain clinically free of disease with a median follow-up of 49 months. One patient with stage III disease had recurred after 47 months. Carcinoma of the fallopian tube appears to respond favorably to cisplatin-based multiagent chemotherapy. Patients with advanced-stage disease who achieve a negative second-look appear to have an improved possibility of remaining disease-free over similar-stage patients with ovarian cancer.