Combination of regional chemotherapy and mastectomy in the treatment of carcinoma of the breast. Five-year results.

Thirty-six women with cancer of the breast were treated with infusion of cytotoxic drugs into the first portion of the subclavian artery adjuvant to radical or simple mastectomy. The patients were followed up for five years and the results were compared with a matched group of patients treated by mastectomy alone. There was no difference between the two groups in the overall mortality at the end of the fith year. The survival rates of patients with stage 3 carcinoma receiving adjuvant chemotherapy were in the first three years significantly better than those of the controls. No impairment of the wound healing was observed and the systemic side effects of the cytotoxic drugs were unimportant. In two patients serious neurologic complications developed and one patient died of pulmonary abscess.