The evolution in management of patients with subcentimeter, node-negative, triple-negative breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the evolution in treatment recommendations and outcomes for patients with subcentimeter, node-negative, triple-negative disease. METHODS: Patients were divided into a remote (diagnosed from 1997 to 2003) and a recent (diag-nosed from 2004 to 2011) group. Demographics, tumor size, surgical treatment, use of adjuvant che-motherapy, survival, and disease recurrence were evaluated. RESULTS: Thirty patients were placed in the remote group and 31 in the recent group. Demograph-ics, tumor sizes, and surgical treatment were similar between groups. The use of adjuvant chemother-apy increased from 7% to 42% in the recent group (P < .002). Disease-free survival and recurrence (7%) was not influenced by the use of chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that adjuvant chemotherapy is increasingly used in pa-tients with the triple-negative phenotype, regardless of other favorable prognostic variables. The value of adjuvant chemotherapy for the subgroup of patients in our study is unclear and mandates further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]