What's the difference between being cancer-free and being in remission?

Question

My cousin recently received treatment for breast cancer, and now she is "cancer-free." But she says she's not in remission yet. What does this mean exactly?

Answer 1

I'm not sure why your cousin has been told that she's cancer-free. I assume she has been told that on completion of treatment there is no evidence of cancer.



Remission from cancer can be partial or complete.



Complete remission means there is no evidence of the disease following treatment.



Partial remission refers to the situation where the disease shrinks but does not disappear completely with the treatment.



I finished my treatment for breast cancer exactly 5 years ago, and am in complete remission. But no doctor has used the word 'cured', nor will they.



With some cancers, if after 5 years from diagnosis the the cancer has not returned, it isn't going to return, and so the patient can be considered 'cured'. Cervical and testicular cancer are examples.



For many other cancers, including breast cancer, while the chance of recurrence falls steadily, and is statistically greatly reduced after 5 years, it doesn't drop to zero.



Breast cancer can return at any time, even years after treatment, though the chances of recurrence drops with the passing years.



This doesn't mean breast cancer is never cured - far from it. The statistic that 75% of breast cancers caught early are cured is undoubtedly correct, but no doctor will ever assure a woman who has breast cancer that she is cured or 'all-clear'. I guess it can only be known for certain when they die from some other cause without ever having a recurrence of breast cancer. The fear is always there, though it takes more of a back seat as the years go by.



Rather than saying you're cured or cancer-free a doctor will say there is 'no evidence of disease' (or NED, my favourite word!); in other words, you are in remission

Answer 2

Thats odd, I would think its the other way around. When there is no detectable cancer, they call it remission. They call it remission because we cant detect cancer once its really small. So in reality, they dont know if its really gone, or just not growing but still there. After 5 years, patients are considered 'cured', although its important to remember that even after 5 years, its still could just be a remission. That 5 year thing is statistical only, and no statistic in medicine is 100%.



Or, as a layman's term, I have heard some people say you arent in remission until you are done with treatment. Which is medically completely incorrect. Many patients continue treatment after remission, because of the whole unknown (is it really gone, or just too small to detect).



She may just be confused by the different terminology used by different people.

Answer 3

Your cousin is confused.



Simply . . remission means there is no longer any disease activity.



Cancer free means there is no more cancer at all . . perhaps a pre-cancer or early cancer was detected and surgically removed. Cancer gone . .cancer free. However, there is never any guarantee. There is no 'cure' for cancer . . only treatment that may lead to an individual 'cure' or remission. That is where your cousin is right now . . potentially cancer free . .or an individual 'cure' .. assuming that she had only an early stage disease?



If she has an advanced cancer than she is wrong . . and is in 'remission' from any signs of active disease and not 'cancer free' at all.

Answer 4

i think remission refers to the time period...there's a possibility that some cancers can come back and if it's been about 5 years or more then there's no chance of the cancer returning, it means you're cancer-free for sure

Answer 5

The main difference is that "cancer free" is what doctors say so people stop worrying/obsessing about recurrence, and "remission" is the actual term for when there are no signs that it is still there and growing.

Answer 6

Cancer free is you have no cancer cells (that the docs are aware of) in your body. Remission is when your treatment ceased and you went on living.

Answer 7

Your cousin may be confused. They are both very similar and are often used interchangable.

As a oncology nurse I prefer to use the term remission (again its just my preference - due to seeing people relapse 10, 15 or 20 later years later).



Lizzie

Answer 8

from what i got from my grandma when she had BC she said that cancer free means that its gone and remission means that it has stop spreading, but will come back.