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Presentation Description
Institution: Northern Adelaide Local Health Network - South Australia, Australia
Purpose
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer that constitutes up to 12-20% of breast cancer cases worldwide. TNBC predominantly affects younger women, and only 25% of those above 65 years. However, with aging demographic, these numbers are likely changing. The aim of this study is to evaluate our local rates of TNBC, its tumour characteristics, and specifically focussing on the morbidity and mortality in older age groups.
Methodology
A retrospective assessment of data from patients with TNBC from January 2018 to March 2023 at the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN) in South Australia was undertaken. This was obtained from electronic medical records and data requests from Breast Surg ANZ. The clinicopathological characteristics, treatment details and long-term survival were analysed and compared.
Results
There were 84 patients with TNBC out of a total cohort of 674 patients (12.5%). Patients >65 years of age accounted for 40.5% of TNBC, similar compared to 39.5% of cases in the total cohort. Our rates of patients over 65 years with TNBC is significantly higher than that in literature which reported between 10-21%. The recurrence rate was 6% (5 cases) and all occurred in patients age >65 years. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was given to 45 patients, with only 15.6% (7 cases) of patients being over 65 years of age.
Conclusion
There is a higher proportion of TNBC patients over 65 years in our cohort compared to international data. The management of TNBC is challenging in this demographic and is characterised by less treatment compared to younger patients. This conservative approach has been shown to result in poorer breast cancer-specific survival in older patients.
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Authors
Dr Kimberley Tan - , Dr Phyu Cin Thant - , Dr Shabina Ali - , Dr Warunika Jayasena - , Dr Anurag Gupta -