What is Recurrence?
 

The ultimate goal of any cancer treatment is to remove or destroy all of the cancer cells in the body. When cancer cells can no longer be found in the body, a cancer is considered to be in remission, meaning the disease is temporarily or permanently gone. A recurrence is when the cancer comes back after remission. Cancer recurs because small areas of cancer cells are difficult to find and can sometimes remain in the body after treatment. Over time, these cells may multiply and grow large enough to be found and diagnosed. Depending on the type of cancer, this can happen in weeks, months, or even many years after the primary (original) cancer was treated.

Cancer can come back in the same place as the original cancer or elsewhere in the body. A cancer recurrence is classified by where in the body it recurs, but it is still named for the area where the primary cancer began.

It is difficult to give people the probable statistics of recurrence. The variable are too great. The individual disease, the patient, the treatment, the patient's lifestyle before diagnosis, their lifestyle after diagnosis each play a role. While a physician uses statistics to help determine someone's best treatment choice, it is still hard to predict.

But, there is hope. Medical advances in treatment and survellience have helped reduce not onlythe incidence of recurrences, but also have improvedthe outcomes.

Dr. Ed's Script Pad

Why the change? With the sub-millimeter precision of the CyberKnife Radiosurgery treatment system, I can deliver radiation with the accuracy of less than the width of a few human hairs. CyberKnife can deliver "ablative" doses of radiation safely, effectively and non-invasively. So this means that we can re-irradiate a previously treated region while still sparing surrounding normal organs. Because radiation can change the structure of tissues and organs, it is crucial that we do no further damage. Only with a tool as precise as the CyberKnife in the hands of an excellent physician and superior medical professionals can this be accomplished.

While not every patient can be retreated,  a number of studies have shown real benefit from CyberKnife treatments for patients who underwent previous radiation. Those who benefit most include people who had previous standard radiation for:

Lung Cancer

Head & Neck Cancer

Spinal Metastasis, such as from breast, prostate or lung    cancers

Brain Tumors, like gliomas 

No one knows what is right for you better than you. Take charge of your cancer. CyberKnife may be the answer you're seeking.

The Follow Up Plan

by: Jo Hayes, RN

The transition from cancer treatment to surveillance can be challenging.  This is a time when the patient may go from daily or weekly physician appointments and seeing new people they have met while going through treatment to going back to their "normal" life.  When patients finish treatment they should be given a personalized survivorship plan of care that is based on national guidelines (NCI & ACS) along with physicians recommendations.  This plan will include follow up appointments with physicians, imaging procedures, labs etc... all used to detect recurrence, side effects from treatments and to monitor your overall health.  It is very important for you to keep these appointments and to ask your physician any questions you have or discuss new problems or concerns that arise.

Cancer changes your life forever and also changes your healthcare needs forever.  This is why your survivorship plan of care is so important and why all of your healthcare team should be involved and should include your radiation oncologist, oncologist, nurses, primary care physician and other specialists.  Following this plan and being in tune with your body will help you thrive as you transition from the treatment phase to the surveillance phase of your care. 

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

We are so thrilled with the success that our patients are having with their treatments on the CyberKnife, that we felt a celebration was in order. So we recently took several of our patients treated  with the CyberKnife to a Dayton Dragons Game.  

Everyone enjoyed an afternoon of food, fun and of course, baseball! This was a great way to celebrate these new cancer survivors.