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This is true of any cancer treatment. You're never cured of cancer. You just go into remission. The 5 year mark has historically been the point when complete
by da_chicken 8y ago
This is true of any cancer treatment. You're never cured of cancer. You just go into remission. The 5 year mark has historically been the point when complete remission is deemed a cure, but that doesn't mean recurrence is impossible.
- civilitty 8y agoEven then, don't oncologists highly recommend an annual screening for the rest of your life?
- da_chicken 8y agoPeriodically, I think. I don't know how often. Unfortunately, everybody I know who has had cancer is no longer around.
- tutanchamun 8y agoI don't know about other cancer types but around here they do that for non-hodgkin-lyphoma. The first two years after remisson the screening is every 3 months. Year 3-4 every 6 months and year 5+ once every year.
- tialaramex 8y agoAt the limit though this argument works for broken legs too. Oh sure the leg seems better now, but it could break again. I think with a broken leg you'd accept that's just a different break, even if it's the same leg. I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma many years ago, in my final follow up they said the radiation damage means there's a higher than normal chance I'd get some entirely different cancer later in life, but as to Hodgkin's there's no difference from the rest of the population. If I get Hodgkin's again it isn't because the treatment stopped working, it just means the same or similar freak DNA change happened. Like if I broke the same leg again.