Treatment of cancer relapse
A cancer relapse occurs when the cancer comes back after treatment. This can happen weeks, months or even many years after the primary or original cancer was treated. It is impossible for your doctor to know for sure whether your cancer will recur.
The chance of recurrence depends on the type of the primary cancer. Your doctor can give you more information about your risk of having a recurrence.
Why and how cancer recurs
According to Cancer.Net, cancer recurs because small numbers of cancer cells remain in the body after treatment. Over time, these cells may multiply and grow large enough to cause symptoms - or become large enough for tests to identify them. When and where a cancer recurs depends on the type of cancer at hand. Some cancers have an expected pattern of recurrence.
A cancer may recur in the following patterns:
- In the same part of the body as the primary cancer - called a local recurrence
- Near where the primary cancer was located - called a regional recurrence
- In another part of the body - called a distant recurrence
Recurrent cancer is named for the location where the primary cancer began, even if it recurs in another part of the body. For example, if breast cancer recurs distantly, say in the liver, it is still called breast cancer, not liver cancer. Doctors call it ‘metastatic breast cancer’. Metastatic means that the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
Remember that it’s important to use the lessons from your initial treatment to give you confidence and strength as you face the anger and fear that come with a cancer recurrence.
Staging Recurrent Cancer
To figure out the type of recurrence you have, you will have many of the same tests you had when your cancer was first diagnosed, such as lab tests and imaging procedures. These tests help determine where the cancer has returned in your body, if it has spread and how far. Your doctor may refer to this new assessment of your cancer as “re-staging.” After these tests, the doctor may assign a new stage to the cancer.
Can cancer recurrences be treated?
According to the Mayo Clinic, in many cases, local and regional recurrences can be cured. Even when a cure is not possible, treatment may shrink your cancer to slow the cancer's growth. This can relieve pain and other symptoms, and it may help you live longer.
Choosing treatment
Which treatment you choose, if any, will be based on many of the same factors you considered when deciding on your treatment the first time:
- Consider what you hope to accomplish and what side- effects you are willing to endure.
- Your doctor will also take into account what types of treatment you had previously and how your body responded to those treatments.
- You might also consider joining a clinical trial, where you may have access to the latest treatments or experimental medications. Talk to your doctor about clinical trials that are available to you.
- www.cancer.net/survivorship/dealing-cancer-recurrence
- www.cancer.org/treatment/survivorship-during-and-after-treatment/understanding-recurrence.html
- www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/cancer/in-depth/cancer/art-20044575
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