title: Epidemiological and survival analysis of triple-negative breast cancer cases in a retrospective multicenter study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This is a retrospective study with data collected from breast cancer cases from five major Apollo Hospitals across India, as part of a biobanking process. One aspect of our study focused specifically on data from triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cases. The aim of this study was to analyze epidemiology, treatment options, and survival of the patients with TNBC. Our goal was to draw conclusions on the preponderance of the disease and also to understand the outcomes using the existing therapy options.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected after due ethical clearances and were coded with regard to patient identifiers to protect patient privacy. Data were not only from the various departments of the respective hospitals and the treating physicians but also from the follow-up made by hospital staff and social workers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 20% of all cases of breast cancer comprised TNBC. Although the disease is generally thought to be an early onset disease, there was no major difference in the median age of diagnosis of TNBC compared to other breast cancer cases. More than 85% of the TNBC cases were of early stage disease with <4% of the cases of metastatic cancer. Data on follow-up were somewhat sporadic as a good number of cases were lost to follow-up, but from the available data, recurrence rate was about 11%. Death, when it occurred, was mostly in the early periods of treatment with 35% of the events occurring before 3 years. The overall survival rates beyond 3 years were more than 86%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data and sample collection are an ongoing process, so we expect this data set to be enriched with more cases and longer duration of follow-up in a year. Preliminary analysis sheds light on the potential of such a collection both for understanding the epidemiology of the disease and also for conducting future studies with an eye toward improving treatment outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sarin
authors.affiliation: Sapien Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Khandrika
authors.affiliation: Sapien Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Rnm
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hanitha
authors.affiliation: Sapien Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avula
authors.affiliation: Sapien Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Batra
authors.affiliation: Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaul
authors.affiliation: Apollo Speciality Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Raj
authors.affiliation: Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shivkumar
authors.affiliation: Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Tps
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bhandari
authors.affiliation: Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: Svss
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Apollo Hospital Enterprises, Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Swarnalata
authors.affiliation: OncoStem Diagnostics Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bakre
authors.affiliation: Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.affiliation: Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jain
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D064726:Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology