Randomized clinical trials in breast cancer.

Before the second half of this century, treatment approaches to breast cancer were radical and disfiguring. In the past four decades, however, multiple prospective randomized trials have made highly significant advances in the management of patients with this disease. These trials have established, in select patients, breast conservation therapy as a primary therapeutic procedure, and radiation therapy as a means to improve local control and survival. This article provides an overview of some of these trials.