【Abstract】 Objective To determine the recurrence rate of benign and borderline phyllodes tumors (PTs) of the breast and the association between the resection margins and risk of recurrence. Methods Patients with benign or borderline PTs from Jan. 2008 to Dec. 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical data of age, tumor size, surgical treatment, margin size, and local recurrence were collected. Results A total of 118 cases were identified,including benign tumor in 81 cases, borderline in 37 cases. The mean age was 48.3,the mean tumor size was 4.6 cm and the mean follow?up time was 3.5 years. Eighteen cases were identified local recurrences with a recurrence rate of 15.3%. The number of recurrences was too low,and the information of the resection margin was too sparse to estimate an adequate margin size for excision of nonmalignant PTs. Conclusion The recurrence rate of borderline PTs was considerably higher than benign PTs. The results do not justify wide excision margins of non?malignant phyllodes tumors of the breast.