Prognostic Role of Family History in Patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

OBJECTIVEBreast cancer is divided into four subtypes according to the receptor type. Patients with all three of the ER, PR, and c-erb2 receptors negative constitute 20% of all breast cancer cases. Cases of this group, called triple negative (TN), progress more aggressively than other subtypes. Additionally, familial transmission is more frequent in these patients. Therefore, we planned this study to investigate whether the family history was prognostic on survival in patients with TN breast cancer (TNBC). METHODSA total of 158 patients who were diagnosed with TNBC between 1996 and 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients' age, family history, stage, grade, type of surgery, clinical follow-up, adjuvant, and neoadjuvant treatments of the tumor according to TNM system, and their effects on general and disease-free survival were analyzed. RESULTSThe median age was 46 years (range 24-82). The mean follow-up period was 72 months (range 10-224). A total of 64 (41%) patients had family risk for cancers (other than breast and ovarian). A total of 57 (36%) patients had breast cancer history in their family, 11 (7%) had ovarian cancer history in their family, and 4 (3%) had history of both cancers in their family. There was no significant difference between tumor characteristics and family history. In addition, there was no difference between patients with and without family history (breast and ovarian cancer) in terms of local control, disease-free, and overall survival (respectively p=0.13, p=0.11, p=0.59). The only statistically significant outcome was that diagnosis of a second primary cancer in the opposite breast for no family history group was 2% compared to 14% for those with family histories (p=0.03). CONCLUSIONThe family history of breast cancer did not affect the prognosis of the patient independently of the degree of consanguinity. These patients should be carefully monitored for the second primary of the opposite breast.