Triple negative breast cancer: adjuvant chemotherapy effect on survival

ABSTRACTPurposeThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the overall survival of patients with triple negative breast cancer and the impact of different adjuvant chemotherapy regimens on survival.Material/MethodsThe study group consisted of 99 breast cancer patients with immunohistochemically confirmed triple negative breast cancer. The impact of various factors as well as the impact of different chemotherapy regimens on survival was evaluated.ResultsThe overall survival of breast cancer patients was 97.0% (95% CI 90.9–99.0), 84.9% (95% CI 76.1–90.6) and 66.5% (95% CI 55.5–75.3) 10, 30 and 60 months after diagnosis, respectively. Univariate analysis demonstrated that the following were significant risk factors for breast cancer patients survival: patient's age, stage of disease, tumour size, lymph node status, type of surgery and chemotherapy. Better survival was related to younger patients’ age, smaller tumour size, lower stage of disease, no lymph nodes involvement. Survival rates were higher among patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy and underwent quadrantectomy. In the multivariate statistical analysis the significant independent prognostic variables influencing survival were lymph node status and adjuvant chemotherapy. Survival rates of the patients, who received adjuvant anthracycline containing chemotherapy were higher, than those in non-anthracycline containing treatment group, but the difference was not statistically significant.ConclusionPatients who had lymph node status N2–3 and those who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy showed worse prognosis and survival than other patients. The impact of chemotherapy type (anthracycline containing or non-anthracycline containing) on patients survival was not statistically significant.