Clinicopathological Features of Triple Negative Breast Carcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: Breast carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies affecting women in developing countries. Molecular studies of breast carcinoma have classified the tumour based on the immunohistochemical staining into 4 subtypes, such as Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2/neu Positive and Triple Negative Breast Carcinoma (TNBC). TNBCs are reported to have an aggressive behaviour and wide metastasis, leading to selective treatment outcomes.

AIM: The aim was to study the clinicopathological features such as age, site, tumour size, histopathological type, histologic grade, lymph node status, stage and treatment outcomes of triple negative breast carcinoma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 108 cases of breast carcinoma received during the period of 2 years. The tumour was classified based on immunohistochemical staining into four subtypes. The clinicopathological details, histomorphological and immunohistochemical features of TNBC were studied.

RESULTS: Of the 108 patients, 34 patients were diagnosed as TNBC. The average age at presentation was 48 years. Most of the cases showed Nottingham Modification of Scarff Bloom-Richardson (NMBR) grade 3 (55.9%) and stage II (67.6%). Ly-mph node metastasis was seen in 50% of cases. Infiltrating ductal carcinoma (not otherwise specified) type (91.2%) was the most common histological type. Among the other subtypes, Luminal A carcinoma was the most common (36.1%), followed by TNBC (31.5%) and HER2/neu positive carcinomas (28.7%). Compared to the other types of tumours, TNBC showed the most frequent distant lymph node metastasis (50%) when compared to luminal A (38.5%), luminal B (25%), HER2/neu positive (48.4%). Unlike the other types of tumours, TNBC were mostly high-grade.

CONCLUSION: TNBC have an aggressive behaviour compared to other subtypes with higher NMBR grade, nuclear pleomorphism, high mitotic rate and lymph node metastasis.