Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Treating Women Who Have Undergone Resection for Relapsed Breast Cancer; Chemotherapy as Adjuvant for LOcally Recurrent Breast Cancer

You may be eligible if

• DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:
• Histologically confirmed invasive breast cancer
• * First local and/or regional (i.e., ipsilateral axillary or internal mammary lymph node region) recurrence after primary treatment with mastectomy or lumpectomy/quadrantectomy with clear surgical margins
• * Local failure is defined as a tumor recurrence in any soft tissue of the ipsilateral conserved breast or the chest wall, mastectomy scar, and/or skin
• * Regional failure is defined as a tumor recurrence in the ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, extranodal soft tissue of the ipsilateral axilla, and/or ipsilateral internal mammary. Regional failure does not include supraclavicular lymph nodes or tumor in the opposite breast
• * No other prior recurrence in any site, including local
• Surgical resection of the recurrence meeting 1 of the following criteria:
• * Uninvolved ("clear") margins and planned radiotherapy with at least 40 Gy for patients who had no prior adjuvant radiotherapy
• * Mastectomy of the recurrence with uninvolved ("clear") margins after lumpectomy/quadrantectomy alone for the primary
• Adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin®) therapy or other HER-2 directed therapies are allowed for patients with HER-2 positive tumors and must be declared prior to randomization
• No evidence of distant metastasis, including ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes, by x-ray or CT scan of the chest, ultrasound or CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis, or bone scintigraphy only if alkaline phosphatase is \> 2 times normal or if medically indicated (e.g., bone pain)
• No macroscopically incomplete surgery
• No bilateral malignancy except carcinoma in situ
• No suspicious mass in the opposite breast unless that mass has been proven by biopsy to be benign
• No skeletal pain of unknown cause
• * No hot spots on bone scan for which metastases cannot be ruled out by x-ray, MRI, and/or CT scan
• Hormone receptor status:
• * Determined in the recurrent tumor by immunohistochemistry and/or ligand-binding assay
• * Estrogen receptor positive or negative
• * Progesterone receptor positive or negative
• PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:
• Age
• Minimum 18 years
• Sex
• Female
• Menopausal status
• Not specified
• Performance status
• Not specified
• Life expectancy
• Not specified
• Hematopoietic
• Not specified
• Hepatic
• No elevated alkaline phosphatase
• Renal
• Not specified
• Other
• Fertile patients must use effective non-hormonal contraception
• Medically suitable for chemotherapy of 3-6 months duration
• No other primary malignant tumors except adequately treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix or nonmelanoma skin cancer
• No non-malignant systemic disease that would preclude study treatment or prolong follow-up
• No psychiatric or addictive disorder that would preclude giving informed consent
• No history of noncompliance to medical regimens or potential for being unreliable
• PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:
• Biologic therapy
• Not specified
• Chemotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• Endocrine therapy
• Not specified
• Radiotherapy
• See Disease Characteristics
• Surgery
• See Disease Characteristics