4 ms·
Worth noting that "no evidence of disease" is not the same as cured. My mother was diagnosed with a moderately-aggressive terminal metastatic breast cancer and
by jsorrel 4y ago
Worth noting that "no evidence of disease" is not the same as cured. My mother was diagnosed with a moderately-aggressive terminal metastatic breast cancer and given months to live, but enjoyed a few years of high quality of life after her doctor cleared her with "no evidence of disease" thanks to an aggressive chemotherapy protocol. That was about 15 years ago. She passed just under 7 years from diagnosis.
- missedthecue 4y agoIs it even possible to prove you are completely cancer free? Or is that like proving a negative?
- florbo 4y agoPossible? Sure! Individual evaluation of every cell in your body is possible. Our capability to do so, however...
- elbigbad 4y agoSo it’s not possible?
- nradov 4y agoAbout 100% of older people have cancer. It's just that many of those cancers are tiny and slow growing, such that they don't cause any serious clinical symptoms and often aren't even detectible with routine screening tests.
- Namari 4y agoI've never heard of that, where did you read about it?
- colechristensen 4y agoYou’d have to come up with a definition of cancer free. Cells replicating poorly resulting in a cancerous single cell happens all the time and gets cleaned up.
- adamredwoods 4y agoNo, we don't have the technology. Once cancer cells are systemic (metastatic), they can end up in bone or brain, where it can be extremely difficult to detect or treat. Cancer cells only need one rogue cell, and takes about 2 years to grow to a size that appears in tests. Sadly, cancer can also mutate to avoid the PD-L1 pathway.
- steve_adams_86 4y agoSimilar story here. My mom was diagnosed around 2003, extremely aggressive breast cancer, they gave her around 9 months as I recall. It went into remission. Treatment was very effective. Her doctor had no idea how such an aggressive cancer was put into remission so quickly. Around 3 years later it was back despite routine checks and her being clear of cancer. This time it was everywhere very suddenly, yet it took 4 years to kill her. Such an awful way to go.
- Namari 4y agoReally sad to hear that story. Out of curiosity, has she changed her way of living post treatment? I always wondered, if you stick in the same environment with the same lifestyle, I feel like it's something that could retrigger it. Could be the water, the polution, the food, lack of sun ...
- Namari 4y agoOut of curiosity, has she changed her way of living post treatment? I always wondered, if you stick in the same environment with the same lifestyle, I feel like it's something that could retrigger it. Could be the water, the polution, the food, lack of sun ... Also I read that it's not great to stay at the same place that made you sick in the first place.