For about three quarters of a century, radical mastectomy was considered standard initial treatment for invasive breast cancer. Within the past 15 years, modified radical mastectomy (total mastectomy with axillary dissection) has replaced radical mastectomy as standard treatment, even though superiority of the former has not been scientifically proven, with the exception of a single study. During the same period, total mastectomy with postoperative irradiation of axillary lymph nodes came into vogue, and debate centered on whether irradiation of nodes was as efficacious as surgical extirpation. Results of several prospective studies indicated that when used prophylactically, neither method enhanced survival but both prevented subsequent nodal disease, and when used therapeutically, both methods controlled cancer growth equally well. Today, modified radical mastectomy is still standard treatment for patients with operable breast cancer, since axillary dissection is now routinely performed for staging purposes, thereby being preferable to irradiation of nodes.