ABSTRACT
Haagensen describes a group of clinical characteristics associated with a high rate of local recurrence after radical mastectomy. This was the first study to identify a group of patients with what is now known as locally advanced breast cancer. The signs he identified were oedema of the skin overlying the breast, satellite nodules in the skin overlying the breast, inflammatory type of carcinoma, ulceration of the skin and direct involvement of the overlying skin or chest wall. In 75 patients with limited oedema of the skin the cure rate was only half that achieved in this overall series but for the 24 patients with oedema and satellite nodules or inflammatory skin changes none were cured. Similar poor outcomes were seen with the other signs of local advancement.
