HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Definitive answer? When does the clock start ticking

Lani · 03-04-2011, 02:05 PM

distal recurrence free survival, overall survival etc are all calculated as time since original surgery

Interestingly, in breast cancer the clock starts ticking not when a tumor is found but when the surgery occurs. In some cases (patient denial, lack of access to medical care.etc) a person with a breast tumor may go for months or years before having the surgery. The peaks of recurrence for the various subtypes of bc
all occur a apecific amount of time after the surgery, not a specific amount of time after the mass was discovered/palpable/imagable etc.

This is felt to probably be because the surgery itself causes the release of various angiogenic factors "starting the clock ticking"

03-04-2011, 02:05 PM	#29
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,783	Re: Definitive answer? When does the clock start ticking distal recurrence free survival, overall survival etc are all calculated as time since original surgery Interestingly, in breast cancer the clock starts ticking not when a tumor is found but when the surgery occurs. In some cases (patient denial, lack of access to medical care.etc) a person with a breast tumor may go for months or years before having the surgery. The peaks of recurrence for the various subtypes of bc all occur a apecific amount of time after the surgery, not a specific amount of time after the mass was discovered/palpable/imagable etc. This is felt to probably be because the surgery itself causes the release of various angiogenic factors "starting the clock ticking"