Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Treating Women Who Have Undergone Resection for Relapsed Breast Cancer; Chemotherapy as Adjuvant for LOcally Recurrent Breast Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

* Histologically confirmed invasive breast cancer

  * First local and/or regional (i.e., ipsilateral axillary or internal mammary lymph node region) recurrence after primary treatment with mastectomy or lumpectomy/quadrantectomy with clear surgical margins

    * Local failure is defined as a tumor recurrence in any soft tissue of the ipsilateral conserved breast or the chest wall, mastectomy scar, and/or skin
    * Regional failure is defined as a tumor recurrence in the ipsilateral axillary lymph nodes, extranodal soft tissue of the ipsilateral axilla, and/or ipsilateral internal mammary. Regional failure does not include supraclavicular lymph nodes or tumor in the opposite breast
  * No other prior recurrence in any site, including local
* Surgical resection of the recurrence meeting 1 of the following criteria:

  * Uninvolved ("clear") margins and planned radiotherapy with at least 40 Gy for patients who had no prior adjuvant radiotherapy
  * Mastectomy of the recurrence with uninvolved ("clear") margins after lumpectomy/quadrantectomy alone for the primary
* Adjuvant trastuzumab (Herceptin®) therapy or other HER-2 directed therapies are allowed for patients with HER-2 positive tumors and must be declared prior to randomization
* No evidence of distant metastasis, including ipsilateral supraclavicular lymph nodes, by x-ray or CT scan of the chest, ultrasound or CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis, or bone scintigraphy only if alkaline phosphatase is \> 2 times normal or if medically indicated (e.g., bone pain)
* No macroscopically incomplete surgery
* No bilateral malignancy except carcinoma in situ
* No suspicious mass in the opposite breast unless that mass has been proven by biopsy to be benign
* No skeletal pain of unknown cause

  * No hot spots on bone scan for which metastases cannot be ruled out by x-ray, MRI, and/or CT scan
* Hormone receptor status:

  * Determined in the recurrent tumor by immunohistochemistry and/or ligand-binding assay
  * Estrogen receptor positive or negative
  * Progesterone receptor positive or negative

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

* Minimum 18 years

Sex

* Female

Menopausal status

* Not specified

Performance status

* Not specified

Life expectancy

* Not specified

Hematopoietic

* Not specified

Hepatic

* No elevated alkaline phosphatase

Renal

* Not specified

Other

* Fertile patients must use effective non-hormonal contraception
* Medically suitable for chemotherapy of 3-6 months duration
* No other primary malignant tumors except adequately treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix or nonmelanoma skin cancer
* No non-malignant systemic disease that would preclude study treatment or prolong follow-up
* No psychiatric or addictive disorder that would preclude giving informed consent
* No history of noncompliance to medical regimens or potential for being unreliable

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

* Not specified

Chemotherapy

* See Disease Characteristics

Endocrine therapy

* Not specified

Radiotherapy

* See Disease Characteristics

Surgery

* See Disease Characteristics