Radiation Therapy in Treating Older Women Who Are Undergoing Surgery for Stage I or Stage II Breast Cancer

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Determine reproducibility of localized and concentrated adjuvant radiotherapy, in terms of isodose curve and dose heterogeneity, in older women with stage I or II breast cancer. Secondary * Determine the impact of this regimen on Katz's Activity of Daily Living score and Lawton's Instrumental Activity of Daily Living score in these patients. * Determine relapse-free survival of patients treated with this regimen. * Determine overall and specific survival of patients treated with this regimen. * Determine the cosmetic result, as assessed by the patient, surgeon, and radiologist, of this regimen in these patients. * Determine the direct and indirect costs of this regimen in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, open-label, nonrandomized study. Patients undergo surgery. After surgery, patients undergo radiotherapy twice daily for 5 days. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 42 patients will be accrued for this study.