Invasive triple-negative breast cancer accounts for 10-20% of breast cancers and is responsible for a high percentage of breast cancer-related deaths. It is indeed a very aggressive tumor that is associated with a poor prognosis with high risk of relapse and a short disease-free survival. It is treated by chemotherapy only and does not benefit from targeted therapy until now. The purpose of this study was to analyze progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) after the change of therapeutic modalities, and the age at diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer in Lebanese women and to compare the age distribution with a preceding Lebanese study and a recent American study of 38,813 patients nationwide.
Data were collected from hospitals and pathology laboratories across Lebanon. The collection was based on the following inclusion criteria: female diagnosed with an invasive TNBC between 2010 and 2016. PFS was studied in 193 cases, the overall survival analysis was done on 63 cases and the age at time of diagnosis on 387 cases. The statistical analysis was done using Student t tests.
PFS improved from 19 to 35 months after the change of therapeutic protocols and the OS increased from 19 to 23 months (p < 0.001). The average age at time of diagnosis was approximately 56 years, compared with 52 years in the previous Lebanese study and there was a clear age disparity of the age at time of diagnosis between and Lebanese and American study when comparing patients of identical age groups. The age at diagnosis does not depend on the geographical area.
The new therapeutic protocols proved to be more effective, but screening programs must be done at an earlier age. The findings may be pertinent for the Lebanese patients and warrant further evaluation in different ethnic groups and populations.
NA
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik
None
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.