Treatment of breast cancer in elderly women: retrospective analysis of 111 wide lumpectomies performed in a day hospital regimen between 1982 and 1988.

Between 1982 and 1988, 111 elderly women with breast cancer but without clinical involvement of the axillary lymph nodes underwent wide lumpectomy in a Day Hospital regimen at the National Cancer Institute of Milan. The patients ranged in age from 70 to 92 years (median, 79). An adjuvant treatment was carried out in all but 9 cases: tamoxifen only in 84 cases, tamoxifen plus radiotherapy in 6 cases, radiotherapy alone in 12 cases. The median duration of follow-up was 44 months (range, 30-109 months). Four patients (3.6%) were lost to follow-up. In the remaining 107 patients, 10 local-regional relapses (9.1%) and 7 distant metastases (6.5%) occurred. Six patients died from the disease, 14 from unrelated conditions. This retrospective study showed that selected elderly patients with breast cancers can be treated successfully under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis. The treatment guarantees local control of the disease, meets the favor of elderly women and consequently improves their quality of life.