CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT OF EARLY-STAGE BREAST-CANCER - THE EMORY EXPERIENCE

Between January 1983 and December 1991, 80 women with AJCC clinical st age I or II breast cancer were treated with conservative surgery and r adiation therapy. Reexcision of the primary was performed in 40 breast s, and residual tumor was identified in 40% of these. Margins of resec tion were assessed in 80% and, of these, 46 patients had final margins of resection that were negative, 86% had axillary node dissection, 45 patients had histologically negative axillary nodes, and 24 had histo logically positive axillary nodes. Of patients with histologically pos itive lymph nodes, 92% received systemic adjuvant treatment consisting of chemotherapy in 19/24 and tamoxifen in 14/24. Median follow-up was 34 months (range: 6-90 months). The adjusted 5-year actuarial Overall Survival for the group was 92%, and Disease-Free Survival was 80%. Th e 5-year Local Recurrence-Free Survival was 96%. The present study con firms the excellent results that can be obtained with conservative sur gery plus radiation therapy.