Surgery With or Without Lymph Node Removal in Treating Older Women With Stage I or Stage IIA Breast Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically or cytologically confirmed stage I or IIA breast carcinoma that is considered operable
* No prior axillary clearance or biopsy
* Complete excisional biopsy of primary tumor without axillary clearance or biopsy allowed
* Suspicious manifestations of metastatic disease (e.g., hot spots on bone scan or skeletal pain of unknown cause) must be proven benign
* No bilateral breast cancer (any mass in contralateral breast must be proven benign by biopsy)
* Hormone receptor status:

  * Not specified

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

* 60 and over

Sex:

* Female

Menopausal status

* Postmenopausal

Performance status:

* Not specified

Hematopoietic:

* WBC greater than 4,000/mm\^3
* Platelet count greater than 100,000/mm\^3

Hepatic:

* Bilirubin less than 1.1 mg/dL
* AST less than 60 U/L

Renal:

* Creatinine less than 1.3 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

* Normal cardiac function
* No history of congestive heart failure

Other:

* No nonmalignant systemic disease that would preclude protocol therapy or prolonged follow-up
* No psychiatric or addictive disorder that would preclude protocol therapy or informed consent
* No other prior or concurrent malignancy except nonmelanomatous skin cancer or adequately treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix
* Geographically accessible for follow-up

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

* No prior biologic therapy for breast cancer

Chemotherapy:

* No prior chemotherapy for breast cancer

Endocrine therapy:

* No prior endocrine therapy for breast cancer

Radiotherapy:

* No prior radiotherapy for breast cancer

Surgery:

* See Disease Characteristics