Objective To compare the clinical effect of breast conserving surgery and modified radical mastectomy in the treatment of early breast cancer patients.Methods A total of 86 patients with early breast cancer who were treated in the Department of General Surgery,Huiya Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University,from June 2017 to June 2019 were selected as the research objects,and they were divided into the control group (modified radical mastectomy)and the observation group(breast conserving surgery)according to the random number table method,with 43 patients in each group.The postoperative breast beauty,perioperative indicators,quality of life and 2-year survival situation were compared between the two groups.Results The amount of intraoperative blood loss in the observation group was less than that in the control group,and the length of hospital stay and operation time were shorter than those in the control group,with statistically significant differences (P＜0.05).The aesthetic rate of breast in the observation group was higher than that in the control group,with a statistically significant difference(P＜0.05).The scores of quality of life questionnare-core 30 in the observation group were higher than those in the control group,with statistically significant differences (P ＜0.05).There were no statistically significant differences in the recurrence rate,metastasis rate and survival rate between the two groups two years after surgery(P＞0.05).The Kaplan-meier survival curve showed that there was no significant difference in the survival time between the two groups (P ＞0.05).Conclusion Breast conserving surgery can effectively shorten the operation time,promote postoperative recovery,and no significant difference is observed in the long-term prognosis of patients with early breast cancer.Therefore,surgical methods can be selected according to the situation of patients.