Results of breast conserving treatment of breast cancer

Between 1978 and 1985, 247 patients with primary breast cancer have been treated with breast conserving surgery and external beam radiotherapy. Median follow-up is 3 years and 9 months. Actuarial 5-year disease-free survival for the whole group is 72%; 16 patients (6.8%) have relapsed in the breast to date. Of these, 6 (38%) have died from breast cancer. Patients who have experienced a local recurrence have significantly worse survival than those who remain locally recurrence-free (p less than 0.001). Complication data are presented and shown to be almost entirely mild to moderate and in the range 1-19%. This series shows the breast conserving approach to be effective and at least equivalent to breast ablative procedures in early follow-up.