Investigation of the Clinical and Demographic Characteristics of Our Patients With Breast Cancer Diagnosed Before the Age of 40

Objectives: Breast cancer diagnosed before the age of 40 accounts for 7% of all cases and is associated with aggressive disease. This study aimed to investigate the clinical, demographic, and pathological characteristics of young patients with breast cancer in Türkiye.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 73 patients diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40 at Necmettin Erbakan University between 2011 and 2020. Demographic data, clinical presentation, pathology, treatment, and recurrence/metastasis were analyzed.
Results: All patients were female, with a mean age of 30.9±4.1 years. The most common symptom was a palpable breast mass (61.6%). Invasive ductal carcinoma was predominant (87.7%). The molecular subtypes were as follows: luminal, 65.8%; HER2-positive, 20.5%; and triple-negative, 13.7%. Metastasis at diagnosis occurred in 21.9% of patients, and re-currence during follow-up occurred in 23.3%. In the luminal subgroup, recurrence was more common than metastasis (82.4% vs. 43.8%, p<0.05). In the HER2-positive subgroup, metastasis was more common than recurrence (56.3% vs. 5.9%, p<0.05). Among the 13 patients tested for BRCA mutations, 3 (23%) had pathogenic variants.
Conclusion: Young Turkish patients with breast cancer showed high rates of aggressive molecular subtypes. The differ-ent recurrence and metastasis patterns between the luminal and HER2-positive subtypes suggest the need for subtype-specific follow-up strategies.

Keywords: Breast cancer, clinical characteristics, Türkiye, under 40, young