The recent history of operations for breast cancer indicates a growing trend toward conservatism. The modified radical mastectomy achieves the goal of removing all evidence of cancer in the breast involved and removes the regional lymph nodes for accurate staging of the disease. In addition, it provides a cosmetic result superior to that of the standard radical mastectomy. Breast reconstruction may be undertaken at a later time with excellent result. The 5 and 10 year survival rates of comparable groups of patients after modified radical mastectomy and standard radical mastectomy appear to be almost identical.