{"entity":{"id":"relapse-recurrence","kind":"term","name":"Recurrence and relapse","aka":["recurrence","recurrences","recurrent","recurred","recurs","recur","relapse","relapsed","relapses","relapsing","relapsed/refractory","relapsed or refractory","R/R","local recurrence","distant recurrence","recurrent disease","recurrent cancer","came back"],"tldr":"The cancer has come back after a period in which it could not be detected. 'Recurrence' is the usual word for solid tumours and 'relapse' for blood cancers; they mean the same thing.","summary":"Recurrence can be local (at the original site), regional (in nearby lymph nodes) or distant (metastatic), and the interval before it is informative: early recurrence suggests aggressive, resistant disease, while late recurrence in breast cancer or melanoma reflects cells that lay dormant for years. It happens because microscopic disease survived the original treatment; adjuvant therapy exists to reduce this risk, and ctDNA tests after surgery can now detect the residual disease months before a scan would. Recurrent disease is treated according to where and when it returns, ranging from a second attempt at cure for an isolated local recurrence to systemic therapy for metastatic recurrence.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relapse","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relapse"}],"tags":[],"related":["remission","progression","refractory","mrd","ctdna","tumor-dormancy","neoadjuvant-adjuvant","efs","disseminated-tumor-cells"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Clinic basics"},"route":"/terms/relapse-recurrence/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"ctdna","kind":"term","name":"Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA)","route":"/terms/ctdna/"},{"id":"disseminated-tumor-cells","kind":"term","name":"Disseminated tumour cells (DTCs)","route":"/terms/disseminated-tumor-cells/"},{"id":"efs","kind":"term","name":"Event-free / disease-free survival (EFS, DFS, iDFS, RFS)","route":"/terms/efs/"},{"id":"mrd","kind":"term","name":"Minimal / molecular residual disease (MRD)","route":"/terms/mrd/"},{"id":"neoadjuvant-adjuvant","kind":"term","name":"Neoadjuvant / adjuvant / perioperative","route":"/terms/neoadjuvant-adjuvant/"},{"id":"progression","kind":"term","name":"Progression","route":"/terms/progression/"},{"id":"refractory","kind":"term","name":"Refractory","route":"/terms/refractory/"},{"id":"remission","kind":"term","name":"Remission","route":"/terms/remission/"},{"id":"rejuv-second-cancers-overview","kind":"term","name":"Second cancers after treatment: what the risk is, and what is done about it","route":"/terms/rejuv-second-cancers-overview/"},{"id":"rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer","kind":"term","name":"What is not a second cancer: recurrence, metastasis and field cancerisation","route":"/terms/rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"tumor-dormancy","kind":"pathway","name":"Tumour dormancy","route":"/pathways/tumor-dormancy/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-al-hajj-breast-cancer-stem-cells-pnas-2003","kind":"paper","name":"Al-Hajj 2003: prospective identification of tumorigenic breast cancer cells","route":"/key-papers/paper-al-hajj-breast-cancer-stem-cells-pnas-2003/"},{"id":"paper-bao-glioma-stem-cells-radioresistance-nature-2006","kind":"paper","name":"Bao 2006: glioma stem cells resist radiotherapy by activating the DNA damage response","route":"/key-papers/paper-bao-glioma-stem-cells-radioresistance-nature-2006/"},{"id":"paper-reya-cancer-stem-cells-nature-2001","kind":"paper","name":"Reya 2001: stem cells, cancer and cancer stem cells","route":"/key-papers/paper-reya-cancer-stem-cells-nature-2001/"}],"technology":[{"id":"rejuv-mind-scan-anxiety","kind":"technology","name":"Anxiety around scans, and what the evidence says about how often to scan","route":"/technologies/rejuv-mind-scan-anxiety/"},{"id":"rejuv-mind-fear-of-recurrence","kind":"technology","name":"Fear that the cancer will come back: how common it is, and when it stops being ordinary worry","route":"/technologies/rejuv-mind-fear-of-recurrence/"},{"id":"rejuv-mind-fear-of-recurrence-treatment","kind":"technology","name":"Treating fear of recurrence: the randomised trials, their effect sizes, and where the treatment is available","route":"/technologies/rejuv-mind-fear-of-recurrence-treatment/"}]}}