Can Cancer Return After Many Years of Remission?

I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer in 2001, ten months after my daughter was born. I had a lumpectomy, 8 chemotherapy treatments and radiation. Was on tamoxifen and then Herceptin for ten years. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with Triple Negative BC in July of 2023. Twenty two years went by!!!

It seems sort of like a crapshoot, but node status and tumor size have some predictive value.

And I think your breast cancer recurrence score (my testing was called Oncotype) helps in probability of recurrence.

My recurrence happened 8 years after mastectomy for stage 1, took tamoxifen for 5 years

Jessica, where was your recurrence?

I personally believe unless caught at stage I good chance of reoccurrence. I don’t think cancer ever truly goes away. It can hide for many years. Some breast cancer has more options. Unfortunately not as many for Triple Negative which I’m diagnosed with… so I try to think of this experience as a marathon… don’t get too up and don’t get too down…

I agree with Donna. Most cancers, once there always there. May go into remission, and some are lucky enough to stay in remission, but there is no cure for cancer. I know that sounds pessimistic, I am really not, I truly pray to be one of the lucky ones!

I had my first breast cancer in 2009. Very small, ER positive HER negative, early stage, no node involvement and had a lumpectomy and radiation. I did a bioidentical regime under the guidance of an integrative medicine doctor rather than Tamoxifen or Arimidex. In 2021 (13 years later) I was diagnosed with a second primary breast cancer, which is NOT a recurrence of the first cancer, but a new cancer in the other breast. Same as before re ER positive, HER negative, small, early stage, no node involvement and had a lumpectomy and radiation and took Tamoxifen for 3 years ( just stopped due to horrible side effects). All of my oncologists said the first cancer was cured and unfortunately getting it again was bad luck and likely due to a long family history of breast cancer. Every woman in my family for 4 generations has had it. No one died from it and so far have lived into their 90s and died from something else. We have all had genetic testing, no BRAC genes nor any of the other 28 they have tested us for. There is something going on in our family but so far it is undetected. So yes, it is curable but it doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t happen again as a new cancer

Just a PS to the above post. Because of the family history I have been very diligent about monitoring my breast health since my early 40s. I always got/get annual mammograms (and now ultrasounds) and credit early detection in part to being ‘cured’ with a minimal amount of invasive treatment. I’m assuming most if not all people accessing this site get regular mammograms even years after treatment but I wonder if others who have been declared cured take that as a sign to not undertake this critical detection screening

Mammograms are not always reliable. My thirty years of perfect mammograms did not pick up my invasive lobular BC. Be your own best advocate for breast MRI’s!

MRIs give better readings. Especially if you have dense breasts.

This is such an important question that many in the cancer community wonder about. While it's true that the risk of recurrence does decrease significantly over time, late recurrences can happen with various cancer types, which is why ongoing monitoring and awareness of changes in your body remain important even years after treatment. Each person's situation is unique, and discussing your specific risk factors and follow-up plan with your oncology team can help provide the most relevant guidance for your individual circumstances.