hematology and oncology
Overview of Cancer Therapy
Response to cancer treatment
Various terms are used to describe the response to treatment (see table Defining Response to Cancer Treatment ). Disease-free or progression-free survival often serves as an indicator of cure and varies with cancer type. For example, lung, colon, bladder, large cell lymphomas, and testicular cancers are usually considered cured after 5 years of disease-free survival. However, breast and prostate cancers may recur long after 5 years, an event indicating tumor dormancy (now a major area of research); a 10-year disease-free interval is more indicative of cure in these cancers. Survival rates with the different modalities, alone and in combination, are listed for selected cancers (see table 5-Year Survival in Various Types of Cancer ). 