Therapy of early breast cancer: preliminary results of the German Breast Cancer Study.

The German Breast Cancer Study Group has a large, homogeneous patient population with pT1 pN0 breast cancers who have undergone a detailed pathohistological work-up and uniform treatment. Seventy institutions take part in this study, mostly community hospitals. All pathologic specimens are reviewed by the Pathology Reference Center. Moreover, in order to improve the quality of radiation therapy, all dosimetric data, radiation protocols, and localization, and verification films are reviewed by the Radiotherapeutic Study Centre. By January 31, 1988, 762 patients had been recruited. At the moment, after an admittedly short follow-up period for the majority of our patients, there is no evidence of differences between the two treatment arms concerning the incidence of local and distant recurrences, contralateral breast cancers, and other malignancies. However, the study demonstrates several unresolved problems, mainly the collection of follow-up data which can arise when many institutions especially community hospitals and general practitioners, are involved in a prospective trial.