Surgical treatment of early breast cancer: what has changed? (experience of international cooperation)

The study included patients with noninvasive cancer and stage T 1a-b-cN 0M 0 invasive breast cancer who were treated between 1985 to 2009 in Russia (at the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center and at the Clinic of the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Training, 1036 patients), and in the Netherlands (LUMC, 560 patients, National Cancer Register, 22196 patients). The comparative analysis of surgery types between countries was carried out. The frequency of organ-preserving surgeries for early breast cancer in Russian and in the Netherlands was identical (53.7 % and 52.5 %). The percentage of organ-preserving surgeries over the past 20 years in Russia was not significantly changed, whereas the decrease in the rate of organ-preserving treatment from 56.2 % to 41.2 % was observed in the Netherlands.