Life After Cancer
Why Cancer Comes Back and How to Stop it with a ctDNA Liquid Biopsy for Cancer
Are You in Remission?
If you’re a cancer patient who is currently in remission and wants to do your best to stay that way – and, if the cancer does return, to get treatment ASAP – then Liquid Biopsy is your best friend.
If you’ve had cancer and are in remission, it’s definitely tempting to just try to forget all about your experience with cancer and hope you’re done with it.
But here’s what Oncologists themselves say about recurrence:
"A recurrence occurs when the cancer comes back after treatment. This can happen weeks, months, or even years after the primary or original cancer was treated. It is impossible for your doctor to know for sure if the cancer will recur. The chance of recurrence depends on the type of primary cancer."
Life After Cancer: Different Cancers Have Different Rates of Recurrence
This list shows the standard rate of recurrence of some of the most common types of cancers.
Certain cancers have a very high rate of recurrence and others are low. But, as you’ll see, none of the cancers have a 0% rate of recurrence; on average the rate of recurrence is 25-50%. So it’s something you should be looking out for. A recurrence is definitely possible.
The rate of recurrence will be even higher if you:
- Had standard care
- Didn’t use the tools of precision oncology for your first round of treatment;
- Which treatments you have access to, and how quickly you can get them;
- Didn’t confirm your cancer-free status with liquid biopsy – or, at least, with PET/CT when your treatment concluded.
The good news is you don’t have to stress, worry, or wonder if you are still cancer free. You can use regular screening with Liquid Biopsy Labs’ personalized liquid biopsies to detect any cancerous activity long before any new tumors actually form.
There are 4 main elements to the most effective cancer treatment:
- Getting the most precise diagnosis;
- Getting a personalized treatment plan;
- Getting the most targeted treatment;
- And monitoring with liquid biopsies.
The earlier you begin the right targeted treatment for you, the better your chances of beating cancer. And, if you have one of those types of cancers with a high recurrence rate, you can now use liquid biopsies for recurrence monitoring – so you detect cancer when it is easiest to treat, and turn your otherwise deadly disease into a manageable condition.
The speed of detection is key because once a visible tumor forms, it has likely already spread. And, because tumors grow so fast, they develop areas of necrosis that can prevent the drugs from reaching the cancer cells.
Simply put: the larger the tumor, the harder it is to treat.
Learn why speed is so crucial to cancer care
If you’re in remission, you definitely want to make sure you get an annual liquid biopsy to make sure your cancer is gone for certain...and that you detect it fast if it comes back. You have a lot of control over your life after cancer – use this opportunity to ensure you stay as healthy as possible.
There’s absolutely no doubt that cancer just sucks. But at least, now, there’s a lot more you can do to have power over it!
