Think Pinker

According to USA Today, women (and men) who have previously been diagnosed with breast cancer and have been breast cancer free for 5 years or longer a recent study shows a very low risk of having the breast cancer return – that’s great news for survivors!

This is one of the most in-depth studies conducted. The results showed after the 5 year mark, breast cancer survivors were 89% cancer free 10 years later and 81% 15 years later.

According to USA Today there are two types of tumors that are less likely to relapse. They are the slow growing ones and the ones that feed off of estrogen.

The study was recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute so if you’d like to read the entire study you can find it there. One of the most common questions asked by breast cancer survivors is what they’re long term prognosis was. And although doctors always like to give an optimistic answer now they have the science to back up that answer and that should make survivors feel a lot more confident.

It is important to note that the study did to include those that relapsed in the first five years which would have been nice, but even without you can see that the tides have changed.

This is in part because of new treatments and new drugs that are used after as part of the long term care plan. There’s also been a great deal of research that has occurred over the last decade that has left oncologists with a better understanding of what they are up against.

Even though breast research hasn’t yet found a cure it’s apparent that there work is saving lives.