We know that breast cancer is already a systemic disease in the majority of patients at the time it is first diagnosed, requiring an interdisciplinary treatment concept. This fact has changed the surgical treatment approach of primary breast cancer which currently follows the principle: "As much as necessary, as little as possible". Improved early detection of breast carcinomas allows the treatment of a majority of early stage breast cancer patients with breast-conservation surgery, followed by irradiation except for a few contraindications. Although survival is not significantly different for patients who undergo breast conservation surgery plus irradiation than for those having modified radical mastectomy, the pattern and prognostic value of locoregional failure are different. Locoregional failure after breast conservation requires mastectomy, thoracic wall recurrence will be treated by (en-bloc) resection and irradiation. Following rigorous selection criteria and indications, surgical resection of distant metastases to the liver, lung or brain can improve the quality of life and prolong survival, it should therefore be taken into consideration in individual cases. Since the two breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been detected, high-risk patients should be offered the possibility of genetic counseling and genetic testing. Based on our present knowledge, the surgical approaches for BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers with breast cancer remain unchanged. There are some indications that molecular tumor parameters can be used to identify a subgroup of primary breast cancer patients who are characterized by a poorer prognosis. The results achieved in our own patients add further evidence in favor of this theory.