Objective To explore the effect of breast-conserving therapy for breast cancer(BCT) and its prognosis. Methods The clinical data of 69 cases of BCT admitted from January 1992 to December 2003 were analyzed retrospectively. The cases included those who had BCT without radiotherapy and those who had BCT with adjuvant radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. The patients were followed up for 12 to 140 months. Results The 3-year recurrence rate for patients without radiotherapy (11.54%) was higher than that for those with radiotherapy (3.03%) (P