Lung cancer is the most feared type of cancer due to its rate of progression, and the number of lives it has claimed over the years. Remission is a situation where lung cancer cannot be detected in the body, and there are no signs or symptoms. It is either the cancer is not there, or it is hidden. A remission can be temporary or permanent, and it often leads to many patients feeling worried, and having feeling of fear that the cancer is somewhere around. Due to constant fear, people who have been initially diagnosed with lung cancer are advised to visit their doctor so as to be check often for a possible reoccurrence of the cancer in the body, and then get information on what is needed.
Somehow, remission often leads to reoccurrence. When cancer returns after initially being successful treated, it is called “recurrent cancer”. It might take years before cancer resurface, cancer reoccurring does not have specific timing, it can reoccur anytime. Understanding the risk of cancer reoccurring and the treatment options will help prepare the mind in case the cancer eventually reoccur.
Cancer reoccurring may come back anytime anywhere, it may come back in the same location before it was originally treated (local reoccurrence), it may reoccur close to the original location (regional reoccurrence), or it may occur in another location entirely (distant reoccurrence). Normally, when a recurrent lung cancer occur, a lot of tests are being carried out in order to know the cause of the cancer reoccurrence. After the tests must have been done, the doctor will discuss with the patient for possible treatment options, and the doctor might advise the patient to enroll for clinical trials. The treatment options available are surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and others. Patients who experience recurrent cancer are often emotionally down as the reoccurrence often shock them considering what they went through when the disease was first diagnosed.