"Early" carcinoma of the breast: evaluation of regional therapy and features influencing prognosis.

Between 1944 and 1969, 192 women with carcinoma of the breast were treated at The University of Texas System Cancer Center M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute by standard radical mastectomy for small outer quadrant lesions and pathologically negative axillary lymph nodes. Twenty percent of these patients with "localized disease" eventually had disseminated breast cancer. Various patient, hormonal, genetic, and pathologic factors were found to have little influence on the prognosis. Patterns of metastatic disease revealed that these patients did not have a unique form of breast cancer, but apparently an earlier stage in the spectrum of advancing disease. The results of this study appear to represent the best that can be obtained with regional therapy for carcinoma of the breast and emphasize the need for reliable adjuvant therapy.