[Conservative therapy of I and II stage breast cancer--successful alternative to modified radical mastectomy].

A clinical trial was conducted at the Center's Clinic to compare breast conserving treatment (quandrantectomy + radiation) (BCT) with modified radical mastectomy (M). It included 190 patients with stage I-II carcinoma up to 30 mm (BCT with "negative margin"--122; M--68). All the patients had undergone full axillary dissection. Mean total dose of 48.8 Gy was delivered to the whole breast by means of an external beam. No boost to tumor bed was given. Forty-one percent of tumors in the mastectomy group were of medial or central localization. The locoregional recurrence rates were significantly different (BCT--4.09 vs. M--20.5%; p < 0.001). However, the differences between distant metastasis occurrence and 5-year survival were not (BCT--4.91 and 95.6%; M--11.76 and 91.8%; p > 0.5, respectively). Nor were they significant for the localization/5-year survival relationship: lateral breast tumor--92%, medial--100% and central--89% (p > 0.6).