Saving the Breast Saves the Lives of Breast Cancer Patients

Introduction. Surgery has been known as the procedure of choice for breast cancer management since 1700 years before Christ. Nowadays, breast-conserving surgery and mastectomy are performed in selected cases with specific clinical criteria. Here, we compare these two procedures for breast cancer patients with variable features in Cancer Research Center, Tehran, as a single institution experience. Methods. In this 25-year follow-up retrospective cohort study, we identified breast cancer patients who had undergone breast-conserving therapy or mastectomy. Disease-free survival and overall survival were evaluated using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and the log-rank test between the two groups. A value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results. A total of 3358 breast cancer patients, including 61% breast-conserving therapy and 39% mastectomy cases were identified, with a mean follow-up time of 94 months. The overall survival and disease-free survival of all cases were significantly better in breast-conserved patients, particularly in early-stage breast cancer with favorable clinical, pathological, and biological features. Ten-year disease-free survival and overall survival in breast-conserving therapy and mastectomy cases were 74%, 88% and 58%, 80%, respectively. Conclusion. Breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy prove to be an appropriate treatment option for breast cancer patients in terms of overall survival and disease-free survival when indicated.