From January 1981 to December 1987, 264 patients affected with small breast cancers were treated with quadrantectomy plus axillary dissection and radiation therapy on the breast remnant (QUART). Mean age of the patients was 53 years; 124 of them were less than or equal to 50 years old (46.9%); 85 had axillary nodal metastases (32.2%), and 58 presented a primary tumor with pathologic size (greater than 2 cm) (22.9%). Overall actuarial survival at 3 and 7 years, according to the Kaplan and Meyer method, was 95.5% and 85.3%, respectively; NED survival was 85.9% and 77.4%. Twenty patients died (19 of cancer). Local relapses were 6 (2.3% on the whole and 13.3% on the whole of recurrences observed at follow-up). Local relapses were central in the quadrantectomy scar in 4/6 patients. Histology and site of the primary lesion were not correlated with a major risk of local failure. Isolated recurrences in the breast did not worsen survival. Nodal failures were 5 (1.9% on the whole of cases; 11.1% on the whole of failures). Our study confirms the role of QUART as an effective and reliable method in the treatment of small breast carcinomas.