[Day surgery for breast cancer in the elderly]

Early diagnosis of breast cancer and improvement of new technologies for identification and analysis of sentinel node allow more conservative surgical approaches, which guarantee both excellent local control and a good quality of life, also in elderly patients. We have studied a series of 28 women aged 70 years or older and affected by breast cancer. They underwent breast-preserving surgery either alone or in association with axillary lymphadenectomy and all of them had early discharge from hospital. This approach demonstrated to be safe and effective, so we may conclude that day-surgery treatment of breast cancer in these patients is possible in the majority of cases, is associated with low morbidity and is profitable for clinical, social and economic issues.