Clinical features and prognosis of triple-negative breast cancer

Objective

To compare the clinical features and prognosis of triple-negative breast cancers.

Methods

Analysis of all breast cancers studied by the Breast Diseases Committee during the period 2000 to 2005, comparing the clinical features and prognosis of triple-negative with the rest of breast cancers. The overall survival, local recurrence and contralateral breast cancer were analyzed with Kaplan–Meier curves.

Results

We studied 345 breast cancers, 22 (6.4%) triple negative and 323 (93.6%) nontriple negative. In the triple negative, the tumour size was pT0 0 (0%), pT1a 1 (7.1%), pT1b 1 (7.1%), pT1c 8 (57.1%), pT2 3 (21.4%), pT4b 1 (7.1%); and the axillary lymph node was pN0 9 (64.3%), pN1 5 (35.7%), with no statistically significant differences for the nontriple negative. The histological grade was grade III in 52.9% of the cases of triple-negative breast cancer and in 13.8% of the cases of nontriple-negative breast cancer; these differences were statistically significant. The overall survival was statistically worse, the local recurrences and contralateral breast cancer were higher in triple negative.

Conclusion

Triple-negative breast cancer has a high histological grade, more metastases, more local recurrences and contralateral breast cancer, and worse overall survival.