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Breast-conservation surgery is now commonly used to treat breast cancer. Postoperative breast irradiation reduces cancer recurrence in the breast. There is still controversy concerning the necessity of irradiation of the breast in all patients.

We present an update of results from a randomized clinical trial designed to examine the efficacy of breast irradiation following conservation surgery in the treatment of women with axillary lymph node-negative breast cancer. The patients were enrolled from April 1984 through February 1989. Initial results were published in 1992 after a median follow-up time of 43 months. It was reported that recurrence of cancer in the breast occurred in 5.5% of the patients who received breast irradiation compared with 25.7% of those who did not. No difference in survival was detected between the two treatment groups. Now that the …