The Treatment of Stage I and II Carcinoma of the Breast With Mastectomy and Axillary Dissection Versus Excisional Biopsy, Axillary Dissection, and Definitive Irradiation

Exclusion Criteria

• •Patients will be excluded from this protocol for the following reasons:
• •Advanced local disease or distant metastases (stage III and IV);
• •Inflammatory cancer;
• •Chronic diseases such as heart, lung, liver, kidney, blood, or metabolic disorders which may render the patient a poor operative risk;
• •History of another cancer other than skin cancer (non-melanoma);
• •Concurrent pregnancy or lactation;
• •Non-palpable lesions manifested only by nipple discharge or skin rash (Paget's disease);
• •Previous therapy to the breast cancer other than excisional biopsy;
• •Multiple masses or multiple suspicious areas on mammogram unless all but one are proven histologically benign; and
• •Bilateral breast carcinoma, either invasive or in-situ.