What is the value of routine follow-up after diagnosis and treatment of cancer?

摘要

The outcome for cancer treatment is improving: over 50% of people diagnosed with cancer survive for 5 years and there are at least 2 million people in the UK living with or beyond cancer. In many cases, the management of cancer and its sequelae are long term, and cancer is increasingly managed as a chronic disease. This view has been given increased impetus by the publication of the Cancer Reform Strategy in 2007 with its chapter dedicated to survivorship issues.1