A Comparative Study of Clinical Profile and Relapse Patterns in TRIPLE-NEGATIVE and Non-Triple-Negative Breast Cancer...

Molecular subtyping in breast cancer is recently emerging as an important determinant of treatment and outcomes, and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been established as a distinct clinical entity with unique features and adverse outcomes. A retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained computerized breast cancer database was performed, and all the non-metastatic female breast cancer patients undergoing potentially curative multimodality treatment between 2005 and 2012 were included for analysis. Patients with incomplete information regarding ER, PR, and HER2/neu status were excluded. All the eligible patients were divided into TNBC and non-TNBC group based on molecular subtyping. A comparative analysis between the two groups was performed to analyze the clinical spectrum and patterns of relapse. A total of 861 patients qualified for the final analysis and the proportion of TNBC was 254 (29.5%) and non-TNBC was 607 (70.5%). Patients in the TNBC group were slightly younger than the non-TNBC group (median age 46 vs. 49, p value = 0.006). TNBC group had a higher breast conservation surgery (BCS) rate, and there was no difference in the need for chemo and radiotherapy between two groups. The overall recurrence rates were significantly higher in TNBC group compared to non-TNBC group (26.8 vs. 19.3%, p value = 0.01). Local disease recurrences were significantly higher in TNBC compared to non-TNBC (7.9 vs. 3.1%, p value = 0.002). Both the regional and systemic recurrences were higher in TNBC group compared to non-TNBC, though the difference failed to attain statistical significance (for regional recurrences 2.4 vs. 1.5%, p value = 0.36; for systemic recurrences 23.2 vs. 17.8%, p value = 0.06). The brain metastasis was significantly higher in TNBC group (6.7 vs. 3.3%, p value = 0.02). In addition, time to relapse was also significantly less in TNBC cohort (16.1 vs. 22.1 months). TNBC accounts for almost one-third of the breast cancer patients with a relatively younger age at presentation, higher volume of disease burden and high breast conservation rates. Despite a standard multimodality therapy the local, systemic, and CNS recurrence rates are high in TNBC and majority relapse within first 2 years after completion of therapy.