Conservative surgery and radiation therapy have been increasingly utilized at Yale-New Haven (Conn) Hospital since the 1960s. This analysis represents our experience from 1962 to 1982, with a total of 281 patients having a minimum assessable follow-up of five years and a median follow-up of 7.4 years. Five- and ten-year actuarial survivals were 83% and 67%, respectively. The actuarial breast recurrence-free rate was 91% at five years and 80% at ten years. Of 31 patients having recurrences in the breast alone, the actuarial five-year survival following recurrence was 48%. Twenty-eight (90%) of these 31 recurrences were salvageable with mastectomy or repeated wedge resection. Patients experiencing an early breast recurrence (less than three years) following initial treatment had a poorer prognosis than patients having recurrences later.