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Medical Oncologist Dr. David Riseberg of The Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy

Dr. David Riseberg, The Institute For Cancer Care At Mercy, Comments On Recent Study Regarding Incidence Of Cancer Remission

A newly published study in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests some cancers, even invasive ones, could go away without treatment.

Carolyn Livingston is celebrating her 63rd birthday--not with cake, but chemo. 

"I'm having chemotherapy because I have ovarian cancer and I've had it since 1998," she said.

She wasn't supposed to make it into her sixties.  Her doctor gave her one to three years to live even after surgery and chemotherapy.  It's the same course of treatment followed by Ann Widener, a five year breast cancer survivor.

"In the chemotherapy world, you hit it hard and hit it strong to equate to a cure," Widener said.

But does curing cancer have to involve treatment?  Newly published research answers no.  This latest study involved more than 200,000 women who had mammograms.  Researchers followed two groups of patients for six years, concluding that those who had the fewest screenings were the least likely to have cancer.

"There were some breast cancers that may have been present in women who didn't get mammograms the first few years, but they went away," said Dr. David Riseberg, a medical oncologist at Mercy Medical Center's Institute for Cancer Care.

The research suggests the cancers disappeared without treatment.

"I think that it's very premature to extrapolate from that data that the cancers were spontaneously regressing," Dr. Riseberg said.

But some experts are encouraged by the study, saying if the findings can be replicated, instead of promptly treating the cancer, patients could opt for watchful waiting.

"I hope that's true because this is nothing I wish on anybody," Livingston said.

"It would never cross my mind [to do nothing]," Widener said.

Cancer experts emphasize that women ages 40 and over still need yearly mammograms, and people who have cancer still need treatment.

The American Cancer Society suggests women in their 20s and 30s have a breast exam by a doctor every three years and every year after age 40.