Statement: Patients with Clinical stage II (T2 N1) invasive mammary carcinoma are not eligible for the primary trial.
Primary_evidence: Inclusion Criteria:   Clinical stage I or II (T1 or T2, N0 or N1) invasive mammary carcinoma   Diagnosis may be made by fine needle aspiration cytology or core biopsy   A repeat core biopsy is not required for patients who have a paraffin embedded diagnostic core biopsy specimen available for immunohistochemical staining Exclusion Criteria:   Patients with locally advanced disease who are planning to undergo preoperative neoadjuvant therapy are not eligible*   Locally advanced disease includes any of the following:   Primary tumor  5 cm (T3)   Tumor of any size with direct extension to the chest wall or skin (T4a-c)   Inflammatory breast cancer (T4d)   Fixed axillary lymph node metastases (N2)   Metastasis to ipsilateral internal mammary node (N3) NOTE: *Patients with primary tumors  5 cm (T3) or tumors involving the chest wall or skin who are not candidates for preoperative chemotherapy or who decline preoperative chemotherapy are eligible   Measurable residual tumor at the primary site   Measurable disease is defined as any mass that can be reproducibly measured by physical examination   Planning to undergo surgical treatment with either segmental resection or total mastectomy   Patients with a prior history of contralateral breast cancer are eligible if they have no evidence of recurrence of their initial primary breast cancer   No locally recurrent breast cancer   No evidence of distant metastatic disease (i.e., lung, liver, bone, or brain metastases)   Hormone receptor status not specified   PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:   Menopausal status not specified   Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-1   ANC  1,000/mm^3   Creatinine  1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)   Total bilirubin  1.5 times ULN   Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic transminase (SGPT)  1.5 times ULN   Must be at least 18 years old   Not pregnant or nursing   Negative pregnancy test   Fertile patients must use effective contraception   No serious medical illness that, in the judgement of the treating physician, places the patient at high risk of operative mortality   PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:   See Disease Characteristics   No prior chemotherapy for this primary breast cancer   At least 7 days since prior tamoxifen or raloxifene as a preventive agent