[Post-treatment surveillance for potentially curable malignancies].

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Cancer Survivorship Research
• Clinical Trial Design

Context:

• Increasing cancer curability due to decades of research and early screening.
• Patients face significant anxiety post-treatment, often unprepared for survivorship.
• Physicians lack robust data for guiding post-treatment surveillance strategies.

Purpose:

• To highlight the need for evidence-based post-treatment surveillance protocols.
• To define the goals of surveillance: early relapse detection and enhanced cure potential.
• To inform surveillance strategies based on cancer type and treatment options.

Summary:

• Post-treatment surveillance aims to detect relapses early, especially for cancers with effective second-line therapies (e.g., germ-cell tumors).
• Clinical evidence supports conservative surveillance for breast cancer relapse and colon cancer metastases.
• Surveillance intensity for other cancers may depend on patient anxiety and cost-effectiveness.

Impact:

• Empowering physicians with data to manage patient anxiety and guide surveillance.
• Improving outcomes for cancer survivors through optimized follow-up care.
• Establishing standardized, data-driven surveillance protocols to enhance cancer cure rates.