Recurrence cancer

Cancer that returns after treatment. The cancer may come back to its original site or appear in another part of the body. Recurrent cancer that spreads to multiple sites is metastatic. Treatment for recurrent cancer depends on the type of cancer, its location, and the treatment for the original cancer. Recurrent cancer occurs because cancer cells remain in the body after treatment and are able to reestablish themselves. Some cancers recur because their cells are particularly aggressive. Such cancers require increasingly aggressive treatment that may hold the cancer in check for periods of time, though these periods of REMISSION tend to become shorter and the cancer progresses. Other types of cancer persistently recur, such chronic lymphoma. Treatment can effectively manage such cancers for decades.

See also CELL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION; METASTASIS.

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