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Women fear breast cancer, both because it is the second leading cause of death from cancer in women and because of the effects it can have on appearance and functioning. Unfortunately, this fear prevents some women from seeking early treatment for breast abnormalities. Traditional treatment for breast cancer has consisted of mastectomy, surgical removal of the breasts. Recently, alternative treatments to mastectomy have become available. Treatment with limited surgery to remove the cancerous tissue and radiation therapy to prevent recurrence of the cancer is a viable alternative to mastectomy in some cases. This treatment has a much smaller affect on appearance and functioning and more importantly, it appears to be as effective as mastectomy in treating breast cancer. This study compared the effectiveness of limited surgery and radiation therapy versus mastectomy in the treatment of stage I and II breast cancer. Five-year survival rates were computed for patients treated for breast cancer at one hospital between 1980 and 1986. A total of 2,140 patients met the study criteria, of whom 1,179 had breast cancer with no lymph node involvement and 961 had breast cancer with lymph node involvement. Of the 1,179 patients, 964 were treated with a mastectomy and 215 were treated with limited surgery and radiation therapy. The five-year survival rate for these patients was 88 percent for the 964 patients treated with mastectomy and 96 percent for the 215 patients treated with limited surgery. For the 961 patients with lymph node involvement, 855 were treated with mastectomy and 106 were treated with limited surgery and radiation therapy. Five-year survival rates were 77 percent and 96 percent, respectively. These results indicate that treating breast cancer with limited surgery and radiation therapy is as effective as treatment with mastectomy. They also indicate that radiation therapy may be important in increasing survival rates where the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)