Data from: Location of triple-negative breast cancers: comparison with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers on MR imaging

There has been a major need to better understand the biological
characteristics of triple-negative breast cancers. Compared with estrogen
receptor (ER)-positive cancers, several magnetic resonance (MR) imaging
findings have been reported as characteristic findings. However,
information regarding their location has not been described. Our study was
to compare the location of triple-negative breast cancers with that of
ER-positive breast cancers using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The
locations of 1102 primary breast cancers (256 triple-negative and 846
ER-positive) in 1090 women (mean, 52.1 years) were reviewed using
three-dimensional (3D) coordinates. The x-axis measurement was recorded as
the transverse distance from the posterior nipple line; y-axis measurement
as the anteroposterior distance from the chest wall; z-axis measurement as
the superoinferior distance from the posterior nipple line. The
association between breast cancer subtype and tumor location was evaluated
using multiple linear regression analysis. Triple-negative breast cancers
were significantly closer to the chest wall than ER-positive breast
cancers in absolute (1.8 cm vs. 2.3 cm, P < .0001) and normalized
(0.21 vs. 0.25, P < .0001) y-axis distances. The x- and z-axes
distances were not significantly different between triple-negative and
ER-positive breast cancers. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed
that age, mammographic density, axillary nodal status, and triple-negative
subtype were significantly associated with absolute and normalized
distances from the chest wall (all P < .05). Our results show that
triple-negative breast cancers have a tendency toward a posterior or
prepectoral location compared with ER-positive breast cancers.