Interim results of treatment of breast cancer with breast conservation for all patients.

Since April 1979, all female patients who have come to this unit with carcinoma of the breast have received primary treatment with breast conservation. Until December 1984, 288 patients underwent local excision of the tumor with radical radiotherapy. After 1 to 5 years, the overall and recurrence-free survival rates have been comparable with those expected after mastectomy. Local recurrence occurred in 7 of 76 (9%) patients who had stage I disease, and in 16 of 181 (9%) and 3 of 27 (11%) patients with stage II and stage III disease, respectively. Eleven patients required a mastectomy to control recurrence of the cancer, and of the 29 patients who died of breast cancer, only three had symptomatic local disease at the time of death.