Breast cancer 1985. What have we learned?

A popular misconception infers that all breast cancers are systemic from their inception, that variations of primary therapy will not affect prognosis, and that an effective systemic therapy is already available. This is not so. Moderate improvement in long-term survival of breast cancer patients has occurred during the last three decades, and particularly more recently, due to increased detection of "early" disease. More patients are being encountered with early Stage I lesions that are confined to the breast or with minimal axillary involvement. These patients have a minimal risk of occult systemic spread, and the majority can anticipate long-term disease-free survival through adequate primary therapy that achieves total local control. The great majority of our patients who are free of disease 15 years following aggressive primary therapy remain so thereafter. Although adjuvant multichemotherapy has prolonged disease-free survival, its effect on long-term patient survival has been marginal. Optimum control of breast cancer is achieved through early detection (most important) and aggressive primary therapy that aims to achieve total local control, plus the use of the best available systemic therapy for patients with high risk of occult systemic disease.