Remission

[patchworker]

The other day a friend asked if my cancer was cured or in remission. I had to answer I don't know.

Does anyone know how we measure this?

[bigemu]

Good question, I am nearly 4 years post op (T1B) and i get asked the same

[Annde70]

I would suggest that your consultant would be the only person who could answer that question

[sms80]

I am nearly 3 years post op. When I saw the consultant after all the test before op, he did mention the word "cure" but it would take 6-9 months to recover from the procedure I had no treatmet after op (chemo or radiotlheraphy) and no scans. Just follow up consultation. I would say that I was cured.

[Joseph84]

I had my operation 22years gone August, then diagnosed again 2011.

[RobinAylott]

About a week after my op, the surgeon came into my hospital room and said the magic words "you're cured!", and 2 years later I'm about as normal as I can be.

[DavidP]

Generaly speaking, no recurrence for five years after treatment is considered a cure. Up to that time it's remission. But the definitions are not set in stone.

[yorkshirerose]

I was told at five years I am 'signed off', but not discharged as this is a cancer that can return. I have just had my 5 year endoscopy to check all looked ok, which it was, so now I don't have to go for six monthly check ups, but if I have any concerns I ring my consultants office directly instead of going via my GP

[patchworker]

I think we just can't know if we're cured. If Joseph's cancer came back after so long, the only thing that is certain is the uncertainty.

[DaveChuter]

Our consultants tend to say after fives years it is unlikely to return at same site, after 9 years I consider myself in the same bucket as everyone else in that I may get cancer in the future but unlikely at same site.

I still have annual check ups.

[Spikey]

This is an interesting question. I found the following definition on the US website WebMD, which seems as good as any:

There are two types of remission:

1. Partial remission means the cancer is still there, but your tumor has gotten smaller - or in cancers like leukemia, you have less cancer throughout your body. Some doctors tell patients to think of their cancer as “chronic,” like heart disease. It’s something you will need to continue to check. If you’re in partial remission, it may mean you can take a break from treatment as long as the cancer doesn’t begin to grow again.

2. Complete remission means that tests, physical exams, and scans show that all signs of your cancer are gone. Some doctors also refer to complete remission as “no evidence of disease (NED).” That doesn’t mean you are cured.

There’s no way for doctors to know that all of the cancer cells in your body are gone, which is why many doctors don’t use the word “cured.” If cancer cells do come back, it usually happens within the 5 years following the first diagnosis and treatment.

[patchworker]

It's more than 5 years since my esophagectomy for T1 adenocarcinoma, and there has been no sign of it coming back. So far I've been lucky.

[david001]

Hi Patchworker

Obviously it will depend on what cancer you had but no consultant will know that you are 'cured' after your treatment, however in my cancer they worked on the following timescales:

1 year - important for surgical outcomes

2 years - good statistical evidence on potential recurrence

5 years - you will probably stop being seen and the doctors would argue that further check ups are unnecessary. I reckon you are now 'out of remission'

10 years - Miniscule evidence of recurrence so I celebrated (again)

Hope this helps

[Cretenblue in reply to david001]

what about years 3 and 4? david

[david001]

Hi Cretenblue

I'm no doctor (or statistician) but I think the statistical evidence from years 2 to 5 were fairly similar so I think Year 5 was considered a decent watershed where survival has probablity increased and thereafter 10 years was deemed 95% certain not to recur. Here are some stats links if you wish to look further into the subject

cancerresearchuk.org/health...

ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/cancer-u...

Sober reading but rates are improving every year