Between January 1977 and March 1988, 111 patients of stage III breast cancer were treated in Sapporo Medical College. The median age was 51.6 years (range, 26-83 years). Menopausal status was 47 cases of premenopausal, 19 cases of perimenopausal and 45 cases of postomenopausal. Fifty-seven of these patients received intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy. The anticancer drugs were mainly given by two routes, infusion into the internal mammary artery and the subclavian artery. Continuous infusion of 5-FU and intermittent injections of MMC, ADR or 4'-epi-ADR were jointly or individually made in each artery. Clinico-histological response was studied in 53 out of 57 patients. Clinical response, defined as CR + PR, was noted in 33 patients (62.3%). Histological response according to Shimosato Criteria, defined as grade IIb or better, appeared in 31 patients (58.5%). Non-infusion group contained 27.7% of stage IIIb, against 72.2% in infusion group. The 5-year overall survival rates were; non-infusion group 62%, 5-FU infusion group 34.1%, and ADR MMC group 66.2%. A significant difference was seen between 5-FU infusion group and ADR-MMC group (p = 0.03). The median disease-free interval was 22.0 months (range, 1-77 months) in infusion group and 28.2 months (range, 1-124 months) in non-infusion group. MMC + ADR combination group revealed the most excellent results in terms of the 5 year survival rate and clinicohistological effect.