Breast cancer: the military's experience at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center.

We reviewed the experience with breast cancer at Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center for the years 1978 through 1988. A total of 868 cases were identified in the Wilford Hall Tumor Registry; overall 5-year and 10-year survivals were 63% and 39%, respectively. Infiltrating ductal carcinoma represented the principal histologic category. The other predominant variants included invasive lobular carcinoma, lobular carcinoma in situ, and ductal carcinoma in situ. Until recently, most of these patients (90%) had modified radical mastectomy as their definitive surgical therapy, with chemotherapy reserved primarily for patients with advanced disease.