[Management of stage III primary breast cancer. An analysis of 221 cases]

From Jan. 1978 to Dec. 1987, 221 patients of stage III breast cancer were treated by surgery combined with adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. The overall 5-year survival rate was 50.4%. The 5-year survival rate in patients with negative lymph node was 72.3% as compared with 37.5% in patients with more than 7 lymph nodes involved (P < 0.05). In patients who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, the 5-year survival rate in premenopausal or postmenopausal group was 62.1% and 41.4% respectively (P < 0.05). The regional lymph node recurrence rate was 4.0% in patients who received postoperative radiotherapy as opposed to 9.6% for those without radiotherapy postoperatively. The distant metastasis rate was 19.1% in lymph node negative group as compared with 45.9% in patients with more than 7 lymph nodes involved (P < 0.05). To decrease the distant metastasis will improve the survival rate in the treatment of breast cancer. We believe that preoperative chemotherapy combined with radical surgery and postoperative adjuvant therapy may improve the survival rate in stage III breast cancer.