Partial Breast Irradiation With Chemotherapy

OBJECTIVES: * Assess the potential acute and late skin and subcutaneous toxicities in women with resected stage I or II breast cancer treated with partial breast irradiation (PBI) and concurrent cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin (AC) chemotherapy. * Assess the cosmetic effects of partial breast irradiation/chemotherapy (PBIC) in these patients. * Assess the local control rate in patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: Patients undergo partial breast radiotherapy once daily, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. Patients also receive doxorubicin IV over 15 minutes and cyclophosphamide IV over 30 minutes on day 1. Treatment with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide repeats every 2 weeks for up to 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for approximately 10 years. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 42 patients will be accrued for this study.