Receiving a cancer diagnosis is life-changing and may cause a variety of concerns about ongoing health.
Fear of cancer returning is one in all the top health concerns. And managing this fear is a very important a part of cancer treatment.
But how likely is it to get cancer for a second time?
Why can cancer return?
While initial cancer treatment could appear successful, sometimes just a few cancer cells remain dormant. Over time, these cancer cells can grow again and should begin to cause symptoms.
This is often called cancer reoccurrence: when a cancer returns after a period of remission. This period may very well be days, months and even years. The latest cancer is identical type as the unique cancer, but can sometimes grow in a brand new location through a process called metastasis.
Actor Hugh Jackman has gone public about his multiple diagnoses of basal cell carcinoma (a kind of skin cancer) over the past decade.
The exact reason why cancer returns differs depending on the cancer type and the treatment received. Research is ongoing to discover genes related to cancers returning. This may eventually allow doctors to tailor treatments for high-risk people.
What are the possibilities of cancer returning?
The risk of cancer returning differs between cancers, and between sub-types of the identical cancer.
New screening and treatment options have seen reductions in reoccurrence rates for a lot of varieties of cancer. For example, between 2004 and 2019, the danger of colon cancer recurring dropped by 31-68%. It is very important to do not forget that only someone’s treatment team can assess a person’s personal risk of cancer returning.
For most varieties of cancer, the very best risk of cancer returning is inside the first three years after entering remission. This is because any leftover cancer cells not killed by treatment are more likely to start growing again sooner moderately than later. Three years after entering remission, reoccurrence rates for many cancers decrease, meaning that day by day that passes lowers the danger of the cancer returning.
Every day that passes also increases the numbers of recent discoveries, and cancer drugs being developed.
What about second, unrelated cancers?
Earlier this 12 months, we learned Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma (a kind of skin cancer) shortly after being treated for breast cancer.
Although details haven’t been confirmed, this is probably going a brand new cancer that isn’t a reoccurrence or metastasis of the primary one.
Australian research from Queensland and Tasmania shows adults who’ve had cancer have around a 6-36% higher risk of developing a second primary cancer in comparison with the danger of cancer in the final population.
Who’s susceptible to one other, unrelated cancer?
With improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment, people diagnosed with cancer live longer than ever. This means they need to think about their long-term health, including their risk of developing one other unrelated cancer.
Reasons for such cancers include several types of cancers sharing the identical sort of lifestyle, environmental and genetic risk aspects.
The increased risk can also be likely partly attributable to the consequences that some cancer treatments and imaging procedures have on the body. However, this increased risk is relatively small in comparison with the (sometimes lifesaving) advantages of those treatment and procedures.
While a 6-36% greater probability of getting a second, unrelated cancer could appear large, only around 10-12% of participants developed a second cancer within the Australian studies we mentioned. Both had a median follow-up time of around five years.
Similarly, in a large US study only about one in 12 adult cancer patients developed a second kind of cancer within the follow-up period (a mean of seven years).
The sort of first cancer you had also affects your risk of a second, unrelated cancer, in addition to the kind of second cancer you’re susceptible to. For example, within the two Australian studies we mentioned, the danger of a second cancer was greater for individuals with an initial diagnosis of head and neck cancer, or a haematological (blood) cancer.
People diagnosed with cancer as a child, adolescent or young adult even have a greater risk of a second, unrelated cancer.
What can I do to lower my risk?
Regular follow-up examinations can provide peace of mind, and ensure any subsequent cancer is caught early, when there’s the most effective probability of successful treatment.
Maintenance therapy could also be used to scale back the danger of some varieties of cancer returning. However, despite ongoing researchthere are not any specific treatments against cancer reoccurrence or developing a second, unrelated cancer.
But there are things you possibly can do to assist lower your general risk of cancer – not smoking, being physically lively, eating well, maintaining a healthy body weight, limiting alcohol intake and being sun protected. These all reduce the prospect of cancer returning and getting a second cancer.