Mammographic and clinicopathological features of triple-negative breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks effective treatment and has a poor prognosis. This study assessed mammographic findings and clinicopathological features of TNBC by comparing with non-TNBC in order to improve clinical diagnosis of TNBC.

METHODS

A total of 426 patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer were retrospectively assigned into two groups, TNBC (n = 54) and non-TNBC (n = 372), and then analysed.

RESULTS

TNBC frequently showed a high histological grade, presented with a mass (79.6%) and was less frequently associated with focal asymmetric density (11.1%), microcalcifications (5.6%) and distortion (3.7%) on mammography. TNBC mammographic masses were most frequently round/oval (58.1%) or lobular (30.2%) in shape and were less frequently irregular in shape (11.6%). Masses with circumscribed margins were the most frequent (37.2%), with microlobulated (25.6%) and obscured (16.3%) margins being commonly observed, but masses with spiculated margins were rare (9.3%).

CONCLUSION

TNBC could have distinct mammographic and clinicopathological features compared with non-TNBC, and thus mammography may be useful in the diagnosis of TNBC.

ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE

This study demonstrated distinct mammographic and clinicopathological features to help in diagnosis of Chinese patients with TNBC.