Curability of patients with invasive breast carcinoma based on a 30‐year study

Abstract A 30‐year follow‐up study of 1458 women who were treated by standard radical mastectomy for potentially curable invasive breast cancer at Memorial Hospital, New York, showed 12.6% of the patients alive and free of cancer, 24% dead of other causes without breast cancer, 56.6% dead of breast cancer and 6.8% lost to follow‐up. Small primary lesions, negative axillary lymph nodes and histologic types of cancer other than infiltrating duct carcinoma were all associated wih higher survival rates. Patients with low grade cancers developed a second cancer in the remaining breast much more frequently than patients with infiltrating duct carcinoma. Of the 184 30‐year survivors, 34 had metastases to axillary lymph nodes at levels II and III at the time of operation. It is concluded that radical mastectomy is capable of controlling local disease and curing a substantial number of patients .