Breast Cancer Recurrence
What is Recurrence:
Cancer that has recurred (come back), usually after a period of time during which the cancer could not be detected.
Many patients, when given the “all clear”, breathe a sigh of relief and go back to the lifestyle they lived before being diagnosed with cancer. But, all too often the patient enjoys short-term remission only, followed by a deadly recurrence.
How likely is a recurrence?
Almost 30% of patients with breast cancer who are free of disease after initial local and regional treatments present with disease recurrence during follow-up. Read study.
This study of 702 patients with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer[TNBC] concluded: Sixteen percent of patients with early stage TNBC experienced recurrence, with 3 and 5 year recurrence rates being 12.4% and 15.3%, respectively.
What causes a recurrence?
There are a number of causes including:
- standard treatment did not address the cause of the cancer.
- standard treatment did not eliminate your cancer stem cells. These often go on to grow new, more aggressive tumors that are treatment resistant.
- standard treatments themselves can cause new cancers to develop.
- cancer patients are not properly advised about the importance of diet and lifestyle changes necessary to recover from treatment and prevent a recurrence.
What can I do to prevent a recurrence?
This Review, published in Cancer Treatment and Research Communications says “there is increasing evidence that lifestyle after the diagnosis of cancer may affect prognosis. Several studies have shown that a Western dietary pattern, obesity, weight gain, a sedentary lifestyle, metabolic syndrome, high serum levels of insulin, growth factors, and inflammatory cytokines after the diagnosis of cancer are associated with an increased incidence of recurrences. Most studies have been on breast and colon cancer…
Observational studies on thousands of patients operated for breast cancer or colorectal cancer showed that those who practise moderate physical exercise after diagnosis experience a lower risk of recurrence and death…
The study lists theAmerican Institute for Cancer Research/ World Cancer Research Fundrecommendations for the prevention of cancer or a recurrence.
• Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight
• Be physically active as part of everyday life
• Limit consumption of energy-dense food and avoid sugary drinks
• Eat mostly food of plant origin, with ‘‘a variety of non-starchy vegetables and of fruit every day’’ and ‘‘relatively unprocessed cereals (grains) and/or pulses (legumes) with every meal’’
• Limit intake of red meat and avoid processed meat
• Limit alcoholic drinks
• Limit consumption of salt and avoid mouldy cereals or pulses
• Aim to meet nutritional needs through diet alone
• Mothers to breastfeed; children to be breastfed
• Cancer survivors to follow the recommendations for cancer prevention
Take further precautions with these 32 Cancer Prevention tips.
Overnight Fasting (13 hours+)
In this study, data were collected from 2413 women with breast cancer but without diabetes mellitus who were aged 27 to 70 years at diagnosis and participated in the prospective Women’s Healthy Eating and Living study. Findings: nightly fasting less than 13 hours was associated with a statistically significant 36% increased risk of breast cancer recurrence compared with nightly fasting more than 13 hours or more.
Research on Breast Cancer and Fasting (43 seconds)
Fasting Before and After Chemotherapy and Radiation
Breast Cancer
Updated 2024