OUTLINE: Patients undergo partial breast radiotherapy once daily, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. Patients also receive doxorubicin IV over 15 minutes and cyclophosphamide IV over 30 minutes on day 1. Treatment with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide repeats every 2 weeks for up to 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity.