Cure:
A cure (also known as remission) means that you are no longer experiencing symptoms of your disease, such as pain and fatigue. However, it doesn’t mean that your cancer has gone away for good—it could return in the future. There are a number of treatment options to help you stay healthy and prevent your cancer from coming back, including medications, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
The word “cure” has many different meanings and can be confusing. It’s important to understand what a cure is and what it doesn’t mean so you can plan for your future health and make the most of your treatments.
In a multivariate logistic regression model of participants’ willingness to tell patients that they were cured, only being a breast oncology specialist was significantly associated with the likelihood of feeling comfortable telling a patient they were cured after 10 or more years (odds ratio = 6.6; P = 0.024). Age and sex did not appear to be significant in this study.
Many cancers are still incurable, but we are making progress in developing new therapies. These include medicines that block the growth of cancer cells, genetically modified viruses that kill cancer cells, and cellular therapies that replace damaged or unhealthy cells with healthy ones. As these approaches are tested, more people may be able to survive their diseases and find the treatment that works best for them. To learn more about these exciting new therapies, read the article.