Changing patterns in the management of locally advanced breast cancer: a preliminary report

Over the 8 years from 1976 to 1983, 28 patients with stage IIIB (T4a,b,c, NX-2, M0) and inflammatory breast cancers without evidence of disseminated disease at the time of diagnosis were treated at Ellis Fischel State Cancer Center in Columbia, Mo. This group comprised 4% of all cases of primary breast cancer seen during that period. Radiotherapy was the primary treatment in one half of the group during the first 4 years of the study (group A). Since 1981, locally advanced breast cancer has been treated by multidrug chemotherapy followed primarily by mastectomy (group B). The rate of local control was the same for both groups (78%). However, the median survival for group A was 11 months, only one patient being alive 5 years after diagnosis, whereas in group B, 12 of 14 patients were alive and clinically free of disease 9 to 31 months after diagnosis with a median follow-up of 16.5 months. This preliminary report confirms recent findings, supporting the use of polychemotherapy followed by mastectomy in the management of patients with locally advanced breast cancer.