Healthcare providers use many terms to describe the progress of a cancer or its response to treatment.
The term “progressive disease” describes cancer that is growing, progressing, or worsening.
What Is Progressive Disease?
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A tumor classified as being progressive has likely grown substantially or it would be called a stable disease.
Why Progressive Disease May Not Mean Treatment Failure
The criteria for progression are changing.
An example is withimmunotherapymedications.
Rarely do people who have good responses to immunotherapy drugs initially appear to have progressive disease.
Imaging studies may indicate that a tumor appears larger or has spread to new regions.
In some cases, the tumor is no longer present at all.
The same situation may also occur with metastases.
For example, it may be time to switch to asecond-line treatmentinstead of continuing the first-line treatment.
In other words, it hasn’t grown significantly or decreased significantly in size.
Stable disease can be a positive sign during treatment.
Generally, a tumor would be expected to continue growing.
If it hasn’t grown, it can mean the treatment is working.
This may also be called acomplete remissionorno evidence of disease (NED).
As with complete remission, there is no way to indicate how long a remission will last.
Some cancers progress more rapidly than others.
Summary
If you’ve learned you have progressive disease, you may be feeling depressed.
However, it does not mean that there are no options left.
When a cancer or tumor becomes resistant to treatment, it doesn’t mean the cancer is untreatable.
Consult with your healthcare provider to discuss your progressive disease and to determine the best treatment plan for you.
National Cancer Institute.Progressive disease.
11(2):138-143. doi:10.1007/s12254-018-0389-x
American Cancer Society.Survival rates for a cancer of unknown primary.
American Cancer Society.Managing cancer as a chronic illness.
Salk Institute.The five deadliest cancers.
