Breast Cancer Res Treat (2012) 132:675–682 Fig. 3 Overall and age-speciﬁc percentages of patients that received BCS with radiotherapy (of all patients that received BCS), by country % Fig. 4 Overall and age-speciﬁc percentages of patients that received no axillary surgery, by country Fig. 5 Relative survival (5- years) for Stages I and II disease, by age and country *Less than 50 patients in the selection *Less than 50 patients in the selection **Missing 9.8% *Disease-specific survival for the US Discussion Major ﬁndings of this study were the large differences in locoregional treatment across countries, especially in the proportion of elderly breast cancer patients receiving no breast surgery at all. However, despite substantial differ- ences in breast cancer treatment, survival among countries was comparable. International comparisons of surgical treatment for elderly women with early stage breast cancer are scarce. In this study, we were able to make a com- parison between several European countries and the US. Breast surgery The international differences in the percentage of elderly early stage breast cancer patients who did not undergo breast surgery are striking. Whereas, for example, in Ire- land the percentage of patients aged C90 who did not have 679 123