This protocol is intended to provide for the optimal microscopic examination of the distal fallopian tube (fimbria) to identify either cancerous or precancerous conditions in this organ.

[1][2] Women with either a strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer or a documented inherited (germline) mutation in a BRCA gene are encouraged to consider risk reduction salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO).

The surgery is ideally conducted prior to the time that the risk of developing HGSC became too great to defer the procedure, which was age 35 for women with BRCA1 and 45 for BRCA2 mutations.

[3] Beginning in 2000, pathologists began to encounter early, often non-invasive HGSCs (serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas or STICs) in the fallopian tubes of women with germ line BRCA mutation who underwent RRSO.

The SEE-FIM protocol was adopted by many to identify or exclude these tumors during pathologic examination of the fallopian tubes in risk reduction salpingo-oophorectomies.

If pathologic examination confirmed the presence of HGSC in the tubal epithelium, the tumor would be classified as a primary fallopian tube malignancy.