由于乳腺癌病史较长,研究人员根据短期跟踪研究做出的结论有可能会导致最终结果的描述不够准确。对行乳房切除术患者20年后的生存优势研究的失败使那些持有怀疑态度的人们确信,乳房切除术并不一定比乳房保留疗法更适合乳腺癌的治疗。据此,Fisher和Veronesi及其两组同事分别就上述两种疗法进行了随机对比研究。 Because of the long history of breast cancer, researchers’ conclusions based on short-term follow-up studies may result in inaccurate descriptions of the end result. The failure of a 20-year survival study of mastectomy patients convinced skeptics that mastectomy is not necessarily more appropriate for breast cancer than breast conserving therapy. Accordingly, Fisher and Veronesi and their two colleagues conducted a randomized comparison of the two therapies, respectively.