title: The evolution of the conservative approach to breast cancer.
abstract: The profound revolution that surgical treatment of breast cancer has undergone during the past 30 years has led to the progressive reduction of the extent of surgery, with less mutilation. As a consequence, quality of life has improved and women are now more motivated to follow screening programs for early diagnosis of the disease. Since conservative surgery is as effective as radical surgery, research is now focused on reducing radiotherapy. Overall, survival after breast cancer is not affected by reducing the extent of surgery, which, together with less invasive diagnostic procedures, has a good effect on patients' quality of life. For this reason in our Institute we are now evaluating the feasibility of a reduction of the radiation field and the sensibility and sensitivity of new diagnostic approaches for axillary staging.
authors.affiliation: Division of Breast Surgery, European Institute of Oncology, via Ripamonti 435, Milan, Italy. alberto.luini@ieo.it
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luini
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gatti
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zurrida
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Talakhadze
authors.forename: Fabricio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brenelli
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gilardi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paganelli
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orecchia
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cassano
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Viale
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sangalli
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ballardini
authors.forename: Gabriela Rosali
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: dos Santos
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Veronesi
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental / Q000639:trends*; D011788:Quality of Life; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000639:trends*