The past and future of conservative treatment of breast cancer.

Since 1961 more than 1,200 patients with breast cancer were treated conservatively at the Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif) and, since 1970, at the Hôpital Henri Mondor (Créteil). This group included approximately 25% T1 tumors, 55% T2 tumors, and 20% T3 tumors. All of these patients were staged, according to the U.I.C.C. Tumor Classification System. This paper presents the results of treatment of 330 patients who were followed for a minimum of 10 years and 59 patients who were followed for a minimum of 15 years. We also present our most recent protocol, which has been in use since 1983.