Breast cancer returns for one in five

Scientists found that 22.6 per cent of women face disease recurrence. The Macmillan Cancer Support study, conducted on just under 1,000 patients treated from January 1999 onwards, found that the survival time from first recurrence was 17.9 months.

Half of the patients who developed recurrent disease did not get any new tumours for over three years, according to the researchers from St James’s Institute of Oncology in Leeds.

Co-author of the study, Dr Adam Glaser, said: “The aim of this study is to begin to understand more about how long people may survive without recurrence, how long they may survive if cancer does return, the cost of each stage of cancer treatment, and how we can best plan services for cancer patients.”

Macmillan Cancer Support chief medical officer Jane Maher added: “Not only do these women have to deal with the shock of their breast cancer returning, but also far too many are given very little practical or emotional support. The assumption being, they know what to expect.”