The Truth about Cancer Remission

Cancer remission is said to be a positive response to cancer treatments. Furthermore, it opens up an arena of positivity for the victims of cancer as well as their families. Yes, it is true.  Remission indicates hope to the individuals involved. However, many people ultimately believe that the term “remission” means “cured,” but this is far from the truth. It is only a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the term.

The presence of cancer in the family can be a difficult and life-changing event. Challenging decisions, difficult adjustments or even depression is usually present. Many families have been greatly affected by this disease.

Cancer treatments can be very expensive and demanding.  Painful chemotherapy sessions consume most of the victims’ strength as well as savings. It also affects the daily lives of the patient’s family. In other words, when a cancer-stricken individual is in remission, it is a great relief to the patient as well as his/her family. But for how long will this last? The answer is still a mystery because no one really knows how long the remission process will last.

As medically defined, remission indicates favorable response to a treatment regimen, but it is not defined as a complete cure to a certain disease such as cancer.

There are two types of remission. These include partial and complete remission.
Partial remission refers to a significant decrease of cancer cells present in the body, although there are few clues of the disease present in the body.

In cases of breast cancer, tumors such as lymphoma manifest as a solid lumps of the lymphoid cells and metastasize into cancer cells. Shrinkage of tumor sizes, reduced growth and absence of spread are observed during partial remission. In addition, the physical symptoms experienced by the victim such as weight loss, pain and weakness are greatly reduced.

On the other hand, complete remission refers to the absence or disappearance of the cancer cells in the body. Traces of cancer are no longer evident. At some point, lab results may also show negative vestige of such a pathological condition. Moreover, physical manifestations of this condition will cease to exist.

Most cancer victims find signs of cancer remission as a great relief which leads them to the misunderstanding that they are completely cured. Such misconceptions lead them to stop their medication and treatment regimen or even cease continuing medical consultation.

In some cases, clients may experience absence from signs and symptoms of the disease for many years. However, it does not mean the cancer is cured because even in remission some cancer cells that are still in the body may become active again. Therefore, it will result into reoccurrence of the disease.

For this reason, doctors only use the term remission rather than cured because there is no guarantee that when signs of cancer remission flaunts, cancer victims are totally free of the disease.

Therefore, it is really important to correct people’s misconception of the term remission so that they will not gain false hopes.

This article is a guest post written by Haliyma, a freelance blogger and writer based in New York.  Haliyma enjoys writing informative articles about diseases including their symptoms and treatments, such as an article about cancer fighting foods.