Survival has more than one meaning. A traditional definition, called
disease-specific survival, refers to people being alive five years after
their diagnosis. But cancer advocates now consider survivor-ship as part
of a continuum, from the moment people learn they have cancer,
throughout treatment and beyond.
Today, survivor-ship is not just a matter of identity but a growing realm
of health care. It involves extra surveillance for secondary cancers,
Alfano says. It's also a matter of monitoring for side effects of
cancer treatments that unfortunately are toxic to body systems as well
as tumors. Follow-up now means looking after peoples' mental and
physical health, whether they're continuing to live with a manageable
cancer or in absence of any signs of recurrence. It's important to create a better system of coordinated care for people
who carry a cancer history, Alfano says, to link them to all the
specialties they might need, including mental health services and
physical, occupational and speech-language therapy. To address that, the
American Cancer Society has worked with national clinical experts to
develop survivor-ship care guidelines for specific types of cancer.
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