Does Cancer Ever Just Go Away?

Gina Kolata reports in the NYT about an interesting research study that suggests some cancers may merely go away on their own. I know what you're thinking, but stay with me a minute. We've all heard a story or two – the person dying of cancer who was miracously healed – cured -- without medical treatment. These cases were rare and most always viewed with raised eyebrows. But that could be about to change.

"Now, though, researchers say they have found a situation in Norway that has let them ask that question about breast cancer. And their new study, to be published Tuesday in The Archives of Internal Medicine, suggests that even invasive cancers may sometimes go away without treatment and in larger numbers than anyone ever believed.

At the moment, the finding has no practical applications because no one knows whether a detected cancer will disappear or continue to spread or kill.

[ ... ]

Dr. Barnett Kramer, director of the Office of Disease Prevention at the National Institutes of Health, had a similar reaction. "People who are familiar with the broad range of behaviors of a variety of cancers know spontaneous regression is possible," he said. "But what is shocking is that it can occur so frequently."

The study used large groups of women and dealt with various stages of breast cancer. Please read the whole article to get the overview because this just may prove to be an important study.

The study gives rise to the question of whether knowing one has cancer, and acknowledging it, makes the cancer more powerful. That's an old argument that goes to the psychosomatic -- the mind-body connection. Is it possible that in some cases one can simply not name or acknowledge the cancer, and by refusing to do so, keep it at bay? While I am not a subscriber to that theory, I'm open to be convinced by the triers of the proof.

I had a great aunt who died of cancer. The doctors surmised that, given the cancer's size and metastasis to other parts of her body, she must have had it for 10 years -- undiagnosed and virtually symptom-free. Once diagnosed, she became critically ill and died in less than two weeks.

This study will be interesting to follow.

Nikki