Extended radical mastectomy versus simple mastectomy followed by radiotherapy in primary breast cancer. A fifty-year follow-up to the Copenhagen Breast Cancer randomised study

From November 1951 to December 1957, 666 consecutive patients with untreated primary breast cancer admitted to the Radium Center in Copenhagen were randomised before their operability was evaluated into two groups, simple mastectomy with postoperative radiotherapy or extended radical mastectomy. Following physical examination 241 of the patients were excluded, primarily due to tumours deemed inoperable due to clinical criteria (n = 107) and due to poor general condition (n = 69). Twenty-five years results of disease-free free survival and fifty years results of survival are presented, showing no difference between the two groups. Patients with clinical stage I did significantly better than patients with stage II-III tumours. Patients with grade I tumours had a better survival than patients with grade II-III. The breast cancer associated mortality was lower in premenopausal patients compared to postmenopausal patients. An excess mortality due to breast cancer was evident up to 20-25 years following the primary diagnosis.