Hi all,
I am on a watch and wait program for rectal cancer after a radiologically complete response. My last scans, sigmoidoscopies etc were around 14 months since I finished radiotherapy and fortunately were clear and I have more coming up this month.
I noticed this very interesting research for anyone on a watch and wait program "Conditional Survival in Patients With Rectal Cancer and Complete Clinical Response Managed by Watch and Wait After Chemoradiation Recurrence Risk Over Time"
https://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurger ... al.38.aspxThe main conclusion is "Conditional survival suggests that patients have significantly lower risks (≤10%) of developing recurrences after 2 years of achieving cCR following nCRT."
I have only had a quick read of these so could be wrong but I think this includes the risk of distant metastasis. So all in all if someone can manage to not have a recurrence or metastasis for the first two years, then you have an over 90% chance of being disease free 3 years after that.
Don't rely on this summary as I have only had a very quick look at the research so could be wrong in my interpretation, please read the research for yourself.
It is 18 months since I finished radiotherapy. I am obviously hoping that I can make it to the 2 year clear mark which would be a very important milestone.
Best of luck to all on this forum