Major patterns of cancer cure: Clinical implications.

Introduction: This review aimed to classify major patterns of cancer cure and discuss clinical implications. Patterns of cancer cure were identified, in terms of long‐term survival and life expectancy, by means of two recently estimated indicators: cure fraction (CF) and time to cure (TTC). Methods: We considered population‐based studies reporting results for some cancer types on CF, defined as the proportion of patients who will reach the same life expectancy of the general population, or/and TTC, the time span necessary to experience a negligible excess mortality. TTC is obtained using conditional relative survival, which indicates the probability of surviving an additional y number of years, given that patients already survived x number of years. Results: Four major patterns of cancer types emerged from published studies: (a) cancers with a CF > 60% and a TTC < 5 years (e.g., testicular, thyroid); (b) cancers with a CF between 20% and 50% and a TTC < 10 years (colon, rectum); (c) cancers showing a CF of approximately 50% and TTC > 10 years (breast, prostate and bladder); (d) cancers with a CF < 20% and uncertain TTC (lung or pancreas). Conclusion: Clinical and social impact of "cancer cure" categorisation are discussed in details. Recognising a cancer patient as cured represents an opportunity to improve their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]