Abstract:

Objective

To analyze the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of patients with triple negative breast cancer.

Methods

The clinicopathologic data of 1264 cases of operable breast cancer treated in our hospital from January 2004 to January 2005 were collected.Among them there were 246 patients with triple negative breast cancer.Their clinicopathologic characteristics,recurrence and survival were summarized and retrospectively analyzed.SPSS13.0 software was used for statistic treatment.Chi-square test or Mann-Whitney U test was used for the comparison of frequency data between groups;Kaplan-Meier method was applied to analyze survivals,and Log-Rank was used to compare curves between groups.

Results

The triple negative breast cancer patients accounted for 19.46%of the total breast cancer patients(246/1264).Triple negative breast cancer occurred mostly in young patients,aged＜35 years,holding 8.54%(221/246,Z=-3.58,P=0.000);patients with family history accounted for 8.13%(20/246,χ²=5.98,P=0.014).The tumor diameter≥5 cm was in 29 patients,holding 11.79%(29/246,Z=-2.70,P=0.007);axillary lymph node metastasis was in 143 patients,holding 58.13%(143/246,χ²=6.16,P=0.013),and histological gradeⅢwas in 51 patients,occupying 20.73%(51/246,χ²=13.55,P=0.000).The 5-year disease-free and overall survival rates in the triple negative breast cancer patients were 79.67%(196/246)and 89.84%(221/246)respectively,significantly lower than those in the non-triple negative breast cancer patients(χ²=8.70,P=0.003;χ²=15.07,P=0.000),and the incidences of local recurrence and distant metastasis in the triple negative group was significantly higher than that in the non-triple negative group(P＜0.050).The analysis in the subgroups showed that the 5-year disease-free survival rates were significantly lower in triple negative breast cancer patients than in HR(+)HER-2(-)patients(χ²=7.55,P=0.006);the 5-year overall survival rates were significantly lower in the triple negative breast cancer patients than in HR(+)HER-2(-)and HR(-)HER-2(+)patients(χ²=15.31,P=0.000,andχ²=5.77,P=0.016).

Conclusion

Triple negative breast cancer can be taken as a special subtype of breast cancer.The incidences of recurrence and metastasis are high,and the prognosis is poor.

Key words: Triple negative breast carcinoma, Clinicopathologic features, Prognosis