Early Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Imaging and Clinical-Pathologic Factors Associated with Recurrence

To determine the imaging and clinical-pathologic factors associated with recurrence in patients with early stage triple-negative breast cancer.

This study was approved by the institutional review board, and the requirement to obtain informed consent was waived. The authors evaluated 398 patients with stage I or II triple-negative breast cancer (median age, 48 years; range, 21-81 years) who were treated between January 2003 and December 2008. Data collected included preoperative breast magnetic resonance (MR) images, mammographic density, patient age, symptoms, family history of breast cancer, histologic tumor characteristics, tumor grade, tumor size, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node involvement, surgery type, margin status, and adjuvant treatment received. Multivariate analysis was performed by using a Cox proportional hazards model, and recurrence-free survival was estimated with the adjusted Kaplan-Meier method.

Of the 398 patients, 63 (15.8%) had recurrent disease after a median follow-up of 6.1 years. The absence of preoperative MR imaging (hazard ratio [HR] with multivariate analysis = 2.66; 95% confidence interval = 1.49, 4.75; P < .001), dense breast tissue (HR = 2.77; 95% confidence interval = 1.39, 5.51; P = .004), family history of breast cancer (HR = 2.32; 95% confidence interval = 1.10, 4.90; P = .028), and lymphovascular invasion (HR = 1.83; 95% confidence interval = 1.11, 3.03; P = .019) were found to be independently associated with recurrence. These same factors were also found to be associated with recurrence-free survival.

The absence of preoperative MR imaging and the presence of dense breast tissue at mammography were associated with an increased risk of recurrence in patients with triple-negative breast cancer.