The back button in the UINavigationBar under control of UINavigationView is constructed based on the settings of the previous view controller.
Please try this:
self.navigationController?.navigationBar.backItem?.backButtonTitle = backButtonTitle
(Not topItem, but backItem. Modifying topItem would be effective only before the navigation takes place.)
By the way, your question is not related to the SwiftUI framework and the tag SwiftUI is not appropriate. Better use UIKit instead.
Topic:
UI Frameworks
SubTopic:
SwiftUI
Tags: