Conservative surgery for breast cancer

Abstract

Modified radical mastectomy has been the traditional surgical treatment of early breast cancer but in recent years breast conserving surgery has been used with no significant difference in local recurrence and survival rates. This article describes the principle of breast conservation therapy, reviews the outcome of trials of breast conservation therapy and discusses the criteria for selecting patients with early breast cancer for breast conservation therapy. The results of 64 breast conserving surgery performed in Queen Mary Hospital from 1986-1994 are presented. Ten patients (16%) developed local recurrence and seven of them had salvage mastectomy. The five year survival rate was 85%, comparable to Western series.