CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER

Objective: To analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of triple negative breast cancer.Study Design: Descriptive case series.Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), from Jan 2014 to Dec 2014.Material and Methods: All cases of triple negative breast cancer diagnosed on histopathological examination followed by immunohistochemistry were retrieved from AFIP tumour registry. Patient’s gender, age, tumour laterality, tumour size, histological tumour type, histologic grade, lymphovascular invasion, involvement of surgical margins and lymph node status were noted. The data were analyzed by using computer software program SPSS version 19. Descriptive statistics, frequencies and percentages were calculated.Results: A total of 35 cases of triple negative breast cancer were included in the study. The age at presentation ranged from 32-79 years with mean age of 50.9 ± 11.7 years. Most of the patients were females (n=34, 97.1%), out of which 51.4% cases (n=18) belonged to premenopausal age group. Right sided breast tumours were more common (n=17, 54.8%). The most common T stage at presentation was p T2 (n=20, 57.1%), while the mean tumour size was 5.2 ± 2.2 cm. The most common histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma, NOS (n=32, 91.4%) while the commonest histological grade was Grade II (n=22, 67.7%). Lymphovascular invasion was observed in 54.3% (n=19) of the cases while lymph node metastasis was seen in 74.1% (n=20) of the cases. Five cases (14.3%) had positive surgical margins.Conclusion: Triple negative breast cancer was more common in premenopausal females. Most common tumour type was invasive ductal carcinoma, NOS (Grade II) with a pT2 stage at presentation. Lymphovascular invasion and lymph node involvement was also seen in a large number of cases.