Health
Cancer Remission Like Catherine’s Does Not Always Mean the Illness Is Cured
Princess Catherine, wife of Prince William, reported on Tuesday that her cancer was in remission. But what does it mean to be in remission from cancer?
Doctors discovered her cancer unexpectedly last March when she had abdominal surgery. She has not revealed the type of cancer she has, nor how advanced it was when it was discovered.
But she did say she had chemotherapy, which she said had been completed in September. She told the British news agency PA Media that she had a port, a small device that is implanted under the skin and attached to a catheter that goes into a large vein. It allows medicines like chemotherapy drugs to be delivered directly to veins in the chest, avoiding needle sticks.
Catherine told PA Media that chemotherapy was “really tough.”
“It is a relief to now be in remission and I remain focused on recovery,” she wrote on Instagram.
Her announcement “certainly is good news and is reassuring,” said Dr. Kimmie Ng, associate chief of the division of gastrointestinal oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
But cancer experts like Dr. Ng say that the meaning of remission in a patient can vary.
In general, when doctors and patients talk about remission, they mean there is no evidence of cancer in blood tests or scans.
The problem is that a complete remission does not mean the cancer is gone. Even when a cancer is “cured” — defined as no evidence of cancer for five years — it may not be vanquished.
That makes life emotionally difficult for patients, who have to have frequent visits with oncologists for physical exams, blood tests and imaging.
“It’s really scary,” Dr. Ng said. “The amount of uncertainty is very very hard,” she added.
But that ongoing surveillance is necessary, despite the toll it takes on patients.
“Different cancers have different propensities of returning or not returning,” said Dr. Elena Ratner, a gynecologic oncologist at the Yale Cancer Center.
As many as 75 to 80 percent of ovarian cancers, she noted, can come back in an average of 14 to 16 months after a remission, depending on the stage the cancer had reached when it was found and on the cancer’s biology.
“Once the cancer returns, it becomes a chronic disease,” Dr. Ratner said. She tells her patients: “You will live with this cancer. You will be on and off chemotherapy for the rest of your life.”
Dr. Ratner’s gynecological cancer patients have to come back every three months for CT scans to keep an eye out for evidence that the cancer has returned.
“The women live CT scan to CT scan,” she said. “They say that for two and a half months, they have a wonderful life, but then, in time for the next CT scan, the fear returns.”
“It costs them — it costs them a lot,” she said.
“It’s awful, yet I am amazed every day by their strength,” she said of her patients.
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The health benefits of morning coffee may go beyond a wake-up call, according to a massive new study linking the beverage to a significantly lower risk of severe liver disease, liver cancer and liver-related death.
Published in the journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the research used data from 354,957 participants enrolled in the UK Biobank.
Researchers tracked individuals who had no history of cirrhosis or liver cancer at the start of the study for an average of 13 years, according to a press release.
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Participants who drank one to two cups of coffee daily showed a 20% lower risk of developing cirrhosis and a 31% lower risk of liver-related mortality compared to non-coffee drinkers.
The protective effects became even more noticeable at higher levels of consumption.
Data revealed that heavy coffee drinkers had significantly lower levels of liver fat and liver iron. (iStock)
Individuals who drank five or more cups of coffee per day experienced a 32% reduction in cirrhosis risk, a 42% lower risk of liver-related death and a 47% lower risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of primary liver cancer.
While previous studies have hinted at coffee’s positive relationship with liver health, this study provides biological evidence to support the statistical trends, the researchers said.
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To better understand why coffee may protect the liver, the researchers conducted additional analyses using imaging data from a subgroup of nearly 29,000 participants and blood samples from approximately 50,000 individuals.
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The data showed that heavy coffee drinkers had significantly lower levels of liver fat and liver iron, as well as lower odds of developing fibroinflammation, which is the scarring and inflammation that often precedes permanent liver damage.
Participants who drank one to two cups of coffee daily showed a 20% lower risk of developing cirrhosis. (iStock)
The blood analysis linked coffee consumption with lower levels of some proteins known to trigger inflammation and tissue scarring, along with higher levels of proteins essential for healthy liver function.
Notably, the study found that the liver-protective benefits were similar for both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, suggesting that these benefits are driven by naturally occurring compounds not related to caffeine.
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While the benefits persisted regardless of whether the coffee was consumed black or with sweeteners, the researchers observed that adding sugar or artificial sweeteners slightly weakened the beneficial effects, particularly concerning markers of liver inflammation.
Researchers observed that adding sugar or artificial sweeteners slightly weakened the positive effects. (iStock)
While these findings suggest that coffee consumption is an accessible dietary habit for supporting liver health, the authors noted that it should serve as a complement rather than a replacement for standard preventative health practices.
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Because the research relied on self-reported dietary questionnaires from the UK Biobank, the findings could be susceptible to changes in participants’ coffee-drinking habits over the 13-year follow-up period.
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Additionally, as an observational study, it can only establish a strong correlation and cannot prove cause and effect, as other factors may influence the outcomes.
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