[The present status of surgery in the curative treatment of mammary carcinoma].

Among malignant tumors, none has become as much as this one a battlefield for radiotherapists and surgeons to compete with each other or to fight side by side. Everything has been said concerning this frequent type of carcinoma, at the same time severe and curable: it ranges from bilateral mastectomy with de principe mediastinal emptying to unconditional abstention. Inside this Tower of Babel, everyone speaks his own language, proclaims his own truth. Everyone produces the results obtained in relation to the anatomoclinical forms he deals with, the techniques he uses, the equipment at his disposal; well, the relationship of these various facteurs is sometimes difficult to understand. Everyone would occasionnally mention the failures of fellowmembers of the profession, but would stick to his own opinion without always realizing they were from the start cases doubtfully amenable to surgery. The status of surgery still remains enormous in a world that counts a far greater number of excellent surgeons as compared to that of curative radiotherapists. Surgery indeed remains the only resource for most, the best treatment for many, and the only security for those who trust radiations first. Generally speaking, present trends are towards a simplification of treatments, whether surgical or radiotherapeutical ones. But it is easier to report on own's personal work (we belong to the group "B") than to produce a valid comprehensive picture of the various Schools....