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

• Any age

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