Is there an Ideal Breast Conservation Rate for the Treatment of Breast Cancer?

Since the results of randomised controlled trials in the last quarter of the twentieth century were reported, it has been conventionally accepted that breast conservation treatment (BCT) provides equivalent survival to mastectomy for early breast cancer. As expected, there was an initial fall in the use of mastectomy. The first decade of the twenty-first century, however, witnessed a trend of increasing mastectomy rates in some regions. This perplexing circumstance served as an impetus for a relook at survival outcomes with each surgical modality. Recent studies have demonstrated higher survival rates and improved local control associated with BCT. Such findings warrant a re-evaluation of treatment strategies, beginning with whether there is an optimum BCT rate.