[Surgical therapy in advanced (exulcerated) breast cancer]

Surgical treatment of 39 cases of advanced (exulcerated) mammary carcinoma in stages III b and IV is reported in this paper. Rotter-Halsted operations were performed on 13 patients, while simple or modified radical mastectomy was applied to 26. Thoraco-epigastric flaps had to be used for plastic coverage of larger soft tissue defects in the thoracic wall in nine cases. Plastic surgical repair is supported by the authors in cases in which the quality of life can thus be improved.