Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a recent concept and the burning topic of research today. Various studies have been reported in western literature on TNBCs or the similar group of basal like cancers, all highlighting the poor prognostic features of this molecular subtype in comparison to the other types of breast cancers. However extensive data from India is lacking. The aim of this study was to analyze the epidemiological and clinical profile of TNBcs at our institute.
Materials and methods: Data on 171 patients of TNBCs registered at this hospital between 2005 and 2008 and followed up until December 2010 was collected and reviewed for epidemiological and clinical features.
Results: The median age at presentation was 49 years (22-75 years). Sixty eight patients (40%) had lump in the breast of less than 1 month duration. Fourteen (8%) were nulliparous and 10 (7%) patients had crossed the age of 30 years at first full-term pregnancy, 89 (52%) were pre or peri-menopausal at presentation. Only 8 (5%) patients had a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. One hundred and six (62%) patients were stage II, 26 (15%) stage III, 21 (12%) stage I and 18 (10%) stage IV at presentation. One hundred and twenty eight patients (75%) had early breast cancer eligible for surgery at presentation, 25 (15%) were locally advanced and received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and 18 (10%) were found to be metastatic. Modified radical mastectomy was the preferred surgical option by most patients (76%) who underwent upfront surgery in our study. The pathological overall response rates (complete and partial response) after NACT was 75% with complete response rate of 25% and there were no relapses in the complete responders. The median follow-up was 30 months (9-70 months). One hundred and twenty two patients (71%) were alive at last follow-up, 34 (22%) had relapsed, 18 (11%) had died due to progressive disease. Thirty one patients (18%) were lost to follow-up. Most of the relapses were systemic and rarely preceded by local relapses.
Conclusions: TNBCs are aggressive cancers with high rates of systemic relapses within the first 3 years of presentation. Longer follow-up of these patients is required for more mature data on these cancers.
Keywords: Clinical profile; India; epidemiology; outcomes; triple negative breast cancer.