Triple Primary Malignancies: Tumor Associations, Survival, and Clinicopathological Analysis: A 25-Year Single-Institution Experience

Abstract

The detection of multiple primary malignancies is on the rise despite their rare occurrence rate. This research aims to determine the prevalence, tumor association patterns, overall survival, and the correlation between survival time and independent factors in patients with triple primary malignancies. This single-center retrospective study included 117 patients with triple primary malignancies admitted to a tertiary cancer center between 1996 and 2021. The observed prevalence was 0.082%. The majority of patients (73%) were over the age of fifty at the first tumor diagnosis, and regardless of gender, the lowest median age occurred in the metachronous group. The most common tumor associations were found between genital-skin-breast, skin-skin-skin, digestive-genital-breast, and genital-breast-lung cancer. The male gender and being over the age of fifty at the first tumor diagnosis are associated with a higher risk of mortality. Compared with the metachronous group, patients with three synchronous tumors demonstrate a risk of mortality 6.5 times higher, whereas patients with one metachronous and two synchronous tumors demonstrate a risk of mortality three times higher. The likelihood of subsequent malignancies should always be considered throughout cancer patients' short- and long-term surveillance to ensure prompt tumor diagnosis and treatment.