OnCo
termsTerm

Recurrence and relapse

aka recurrence, recurrences, recurrent, recurred, recurs, recur, relapse, relapsed, relapses, relapsing, relapsed/refractory, relapsed or refractory, R/R, local recurrence, distant recurrence, recurrent disease, recurrent cancer, came back

The cancer has come back after a period in which it could not be detected. 'Recurrence' is the usual word for solid tumours and 'relapse' for blood cancers; they mean the same thing.

Recurrence can be local (at the original site), regional (in nearby lymph nodes) or distant (metastatic), and the interval before it is informative: early recurrence suggests aggressive, resistant disease, while late recurrence in breast cancer or melanoma reflects cells that lay dormant for years. It happens because microscopic disease survived the original treatment; adjuvant therapy exists to reduce this risk, and ctDNA tests after surgery can now detect the residual disease months before a scan would. Recurrent disease is treated according to where and when it returns, ranging from a second attempt at cure for an isolated local recurrence to systemic therapy for metastatic recurrence.

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Clinic basics

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