What Constitutes Remission in Cancer?

September 13, 2023

3 min read

Fighting cancer is a long and stressful endeavor. When you first receive a diagnosis and then a second opinion that confirms this diagnosis, your life is forever changed. The battle against cancer – while hopefully effective – can leave you feeling weak and nauseous for days, weeks, or months.

If you or a loved one has cancer and is undergoing treatment, your doctor has probably told you that the goal of treatment is either cure or remission, depending on the type of cancer.

Remission is talked about a lot in reference to cancer, but not everyone understands exactly what it is. Below, we’ll go over everything you need to know about remission in cancer.

What Does Remission Mean?

Cancer is in remission generally when the signs and symptoms of the cancer have lessened or resolved. For example, if the cancer is a solid mass like a tumor, then remission would be the tumor shrinking in size. If the cancer is leukemia or another blood-related cancer, then remission would be a specified drop in the number of cancer cells in the body.

Clinical remission is when this decrease in cancer continues for a period of time, depending on the type of cancer. Generally, to qualify as remission, your tumor either remains the same or doesn’t grow back for a month after you finish treatments.

While remission is often used to describe the decrease in any and all cancers, remission is generally used for blood cancers, but not as often for solid mass cancers. Oncologists will frequently use the term “response” instead of “remission” when describing a decrease in cancer from treatment.

Types of Remission

Remissions in cancer are broken into two categories: partial and complete.

A partial response or partial remission means the tumor has been reduced by at least 30%.
A complete response or complete remission means there is no evidence of disease in the body, in other words, the cancer is gone.

If your cancer isn’t in remission, then it is either stable or in progress. Stable cancer means that the cancer hasn’t grown or shrank, or if it has, it’s done so by an insignificant amount. Cancer or disease progression refers to cancer that has grown in one or more areas of the body.

Does Remission Mean Cancer-Free?

Remission does not mean cancer-free. Even in cases of complete remission or complete response, where no clinical evidence of cancer can be detected, cancer cells can still remain in the body. After treatment, these cancer cells may resume their growth and lead to cancer recurring in the body. Some patients who have advanced, solid tumors will continue to receive cancer treatment after complete remission to eliminate any remaining cancer cells in the body.

The Timeline of Remission

Every patient responds differently to cancer treatment, so there is no single point of reference when it comes to cancer remission. Cancer therapy is in place to make remission as thorough and long-lasting as possible, but what works for one patient may not work for another.

In cases where cancer does return after remission, your doctors will help you choose from the available treatment options. Generally, regardless of the line of therapy they’re on, patients will have several options available.

It’s also important to note that cancer treatment is always advancing. For example, targeted therapies which target certain genes and proteins in the body, allow oncologists to use new drugs alongside previously successful treatments to maximize the results in a specific case.

There is no guarantee cancer will return after remission, but there is also no guarantee cancer won’t return. The timeline and outcome of cancer treatment is different for everyone.

However, some doctors may say that a patient is cured if cancer doesn’t reappear five years after complete remission.

When cancer does reappear, continued cancer treatment may put a patient right back into remission.

Post-Remission Checkups

After you have complete remission, your doctor will likely ask you to come in for frequent checkups. This ensures that if the cancer does return, treatment can resume immediately to put you back into remission.

After two or three years, your healthcare team may recommend that you only come in once or twice each year.

After remission, you should always let your doctor know about any symptoms that could indicate a recurrence of cancer.

Takeaway

While remission doesn’t mean cancer-free, it is a major step in becoming cancer-free. Partial remission and complete remission are both something to celebrate, even if it means you’re not completely out of the woods.

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