Going through treatment for thyroid, head or neck cancer can be physically and emotionally taxing. You may wish to be done with all medical appointments and examinations after finishing with your active treatment. However, the time period following treatment requires close follow-up appointments with your physicians. This is essential for your long-term health. Long-term follow up can help you keep your quality of life as high as possible while also allowing for early detection of recurrent disease.
What is Long-Term Follow Up?
After you complete your cancer treatment, your doctors will continue to monitor and care for any health concerns related to the disease. This is known as long-term follow-up. Long-term follow up might consist of periodic imaging, blood-tests, and physical examinations.
Your specific cancer history will influence the frequency of follow-up. Relevant factors include:
- The type of cancer you had.
- The stage at which your disease was diagnosed and treated.
- The treatment type/s you underwent (surgery, chemo, radiation, etc.).
Why is Long-Term Follow Up Important?
Goals of long-term follow up include surveillance for disease recurrence, management of side effects, and examination of overall health.
Long-term follow up can help you stay as healthy and comfortable as possible. It also gives your doctor a chance to catch any problems that could arise from cancer or its treatment before they become more serious and cause bigger problems down the road such as pain, disability, or even death.
If cancer does recur at some point in the future, noticing early signs and addressing them quickly, through follow-up care, may increase your treatment’s success rate.
How Can I Best Coordinate My Long-Term Follow Up?
After your initial treatment, a member of your treatment team will provide you with a follow-up care plan: an overview of the treatment you received as well as recommendations for post-treatment care.
As you move forward with long-term follow up, it will be important to determine which physicians you will continue to see. This might include individuals who were involved in your cancer treatment, such as a surgeon and oncologist, or your primary care physician (whom you should continue to meet with regularly for non-cancer related matters as well). Once you make this decision, your doctor(s) will determine the necessary frequency of your checkups.
You and your care team should talk about the best type of follow up care for you in order to ensure that any long-term health concerns are caught early before they become serious problems. This will hopefully allow you to maintain a good quality of life.
How Often and for How Long Should I Pursue Long-Term Follow Up Care?
Typically, long-term follow up will continue for as long as you and your doctor feel it is necessary. This may be anywhere from a few years to the rest of your life depending on what kind of cancer treatment (if any) was used and how well your body responded to those treatments over time.
Though the frequency of follow-up visits varies from patient to patient, it is common for patients to meet with their follow-up team every 1-3 months in the first year after treatment. With each year that passes, the frequency of visits will likely decrease. For example, patients may start to go for follow-up visits once a year once they have reached 5 years post-treatment.
If you are in remission for a certain period of time, you may be able to transition to less frequent follow-up care.
When In Doubt, Ask Questions
If you have any concerns or questions about your post-cancer care, talk with your care team. It is important for both you and your care team to share detailed information in order for everyone to make informed decisions regarding long-term follow up plans.
