CHARACTERISTICS AND PROGNOSIS OF TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER PATIENTS IN BRAZIL

TNBC treated with NACT followed by surgical resection with curative intent. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of breast cancer pts treated with NACT between 2011 and 2018 in an academic cancer center. Electronic records were reviewed for data on clinical and demographic characteristics, treatment and outcomes. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from the date of diagnosis to date of death or last data record and disease-free survival (DFS) was calculated from the date of diagnosis until the date of recurrence. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. Results: We analyzed a cohort of 1991 breast cancer pts treated with NACT, of which 441 were defined as TNBC by immunohistochemistry and were included in the present analysis. Mean age at diagnosis was 53.7 years (range: 24-84) and 34.9% were younger than 50 years. 37.9% were diagnosed in stage II, 62.1% in stage III and 68.9% had lymph node involvement. The rate of complete pathological response (PCR) in breast and lymph node was 29.3%. After a median follow-up of 28 months, the recurrence rate (RR) was 27.2% for the overall population. RR was 5.4% in the group that achieved PCR versus 35.9% in the group with post-NACT residual disease (p < 0.001). Median DFS was 7.65 years. Median OS was not reached and 5-year OS rate was 68.5%. There was no statistically significant difference in OS between patients who started NACT with anthracyclines versus those who started treatment with taxane (median OS not reached, p = 0.203). Conclusion: Our results suggest that Brazilian women are at higher risk of being diagnosed with late stage TNBC than in high-income countries. Clinical outcomes of pts treated with anthracycline and taxane-based NACT followed by surgical resection are comparable to those reported in the literature.