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Optimal Surgical Treatment of Breast Cancer

European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

Correspondence: Umberto Veronesi, M.D., European Institute of Oncology, Via Ripamonti, 435, 20141 Milan, Italy. Telephone: 39-2-57489224; Fax: 39-2-57489210. Received August 5, 1996; accepted for publication October 14, 1996.

Large-scale, controlled trials in the 1970s and 1980s demonstrated that wide resection (for example, quadrantectomy) was as effective as mastectomy for the treatment of breast cancer up to 3 cm in maximum diameter. Conservative treatment may also be extended to larger cancers following pre-operative chemotherapy to reduce tumor mass and leave sufficiently wide resection margins to ensure oncological radicality. Quadrantectomy is an operation of curative intent, distinct from "lumpectomy" or "tumorectomy," whose main aim is to debulk the tumor mass; nevertheless, wide resection should, in most cases, be flanked by radiotherapy to sterilize the tumor bed and by complete axillary dissection to remove any metastatic nodes and provide full prognostic information. This triple approach provides a high cure rate and low relapse rate for breast cancer, while providing an acceptable cosmetic outcome; we believe it is the optimal treatment for breast cancer at the present time. Modifications include simultaneous remodeling of the affected breast if, because of tumor position, the result of conservative surgery is less than satisfactory; and use of radioguided surgery to detect the sentinel node which, if not involved, may indicate that full axillary dissection is unnecessary.

Key Words. Breast cancer • Surgery • Conservation • Treatment