AbstractFrom 1958 to 1982, 1,035 radical mastectomies have been performed in our institute in cases of breast cancer. A total of 804 cases have been followed up for 5 years or more after the operation, the follow‐up rate being 100%. Routine radical operations were performed in 695 cases, whereas the other 109 cases were treated with simple mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, and extended radical mastectomy. The 5‐, 10‐, 15‐, and 20‐year survival rates of these 804 cases were 71.8%, 58.2%, 48.8%, and 41.8%, respectively. According to the tumor‐node‐metastases (TNM) classification, the 5‐, 10‐, 15‐, and 20‐year survival rates for stage I were 85.4%, 77.0%, 58.3%, and 75.0%; for stage II, 72.8%, 57.4%, 53.5%, and 58.8%; and for stage III, 55.3%, 44.7%, 36.5%, a