How Monitoring Supports Survivorship After Cancer Treatment Care

Ongoing monitoring remains a cornerstone of survivorship care for patients with cancer, helping detect recurrence early and identify delayed side effects from therapy, according to Dr. Elias Obeid, the medical director of the Hennessy Institute for Cancer Prevention and Applied Molecular Medicine at Hackensack Meridian John Theurer Cancer Center.

In a video interview with CURE, Obeid emphasized that cancer care does not stop at diagnosis or when treatment ends. Instead, survivorship continues over time and requires consistent follow-up as part of a longer journey. Regular monitoring allows clinicians and patients to watch for signs that the cancer may return and recognize late or ongoing side effects related to prior treatment before problems escalate further.

He noted that many cancer programs now include survivorship teams, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians, who continue following individuals for years after diagnosis and remain involved in their long-term care.

This ongoing follow-up helps ensure patients stay supported well beyond active treatment.

Transcript

What role does ongoing monitoring play in survivorship care?

Cancer does not stop at the time of diagnosis, and once you are great and you finish treatment, things continue, right? So, it's a journey, and ongoing monitoring is really important that it's actually the cornerstone of survivorship. It allows us and allows the patient help detect cancer recurs early, if it is going to come back, it also identifies maybe late occurrences of cancer related therapy toxicities interfered before problems escalate further.

So survivorship is really important, and I think most cancer programs now have survivorship teams where either a nurse practitioner or physician assistant or even the physicians who have been involved in the care for those individuals keep on following them throughout the years after the cancer diagnosis.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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