Comparison of breast-conserving therapy with mastectomy for treatment of early breast cancer.

The aim of this study was to compare the survival and recurrence rates of patients undergoing breast-conserving therapy with the rates of those undergoing mastectomy. Between August 1991 and June 1994, 229 patients were enrolled in this study, although one was later excluded because the tumor was histologically diagnosed as benign. A total of 119 patients with clinical stage TIS, I or II underwent breast-conserving therapy and 109 patients received mastectomy. Mastectomy was utilized more than breast-conserving therapy in the case of clinical stage II, greater age, larger tumor size or shorter distance between the tumor and the nipple. Twenty-seven patients (23.1%) of the 117 receiving breast-conserving surgery were surgical margin positive. There was no significant difference in the distance between the tumor and the nipple, tumor size or clinical stage in the incidence of surgical margin positive cases. Mean follow-up time of the breast-conserving therapy group and the mastectomy group was 42.4 and 39.7 months, respectively. There was no significant difference in the overall survival and disease-free survival between breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy. After adjustment for the clinical stage, there was no significant difference in the prognosis between breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy.