# Progression

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/progression/  
OnCo record `progression` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The cancer is growing or spreading despite treatment, or after it. Progression usually means the current drug has stopped working and it is time to switch to the next line.

## Summary

RECIST defines progression as at least a 20% increase in the sum of target-lesion diameters (and at least 5 mm absolute), or the appearance of any new lesion; clinical progression (worsening symptoms) can also count. Progression triggers the move from first-line to second-line therapy and, increasingly, a repeat biopsy or liquid biopsy to see what resistance mechanism has emerged. Time to progression is the basis of progression-free survival, the commonest primary endpoint in trials, and 'pseudoprogression', an apparent enlargement caused by immune cells flooding a tumour, can mislead early scans during immunotherapy.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: progressive disease; disease progression; progressed; progresses; progressing; on progression; at progression; after progression; post-progression; radiographic progression; progressed on; growth of the tumour; tumour growth; tumor growth

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_disease
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_disease

## Connected records

- terms: [Complete response](https://onco.cc/terms/complete-response/), [Drug resistance (primary and acquired)](https://onco.cc/terms/resistance/), [Lines of therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/first-line/), [Maintenance therapy](https://onco.cc/terms/maintenance-therapy/), [Partial response](https://onco.cc/terms/partial-response/), [Progression-free survival (PFS)](https://onco.cc/terms/pfs/), [RECIST](https://onco.cc/terms/recist/), [Recurrence and relapse](https://onco.cc/terms/relapse-recurrence/), [Refractory](https://onco.cc/terms/refractory/), [Remission](https://onco.cc/terms/remission/), [Stable disease](https://onco.cc/terms/stable-disease/), [Tumour marker](https://onco.cc/terms/tumour-marker/)
- journals: [Pathology oncology research](https://onco.cc/journals/pathology-and-oncology-research/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/progression.json