Remission of a disease is a medical concept that implies a decrease or disappearance of signs of an existing disease. The presence of such a condition is characteristic of peptic ulcer, various types of allergies, psoriasis, tuberculosis, mental disorders, cancer, etc.
Today we will find out in more detail what remission is, how it occurs in individual cases of diseases, and what types of remissions doctors distinguish.
When remissions of various diseases occur
Most often, remission is a consequence of either the peculiarities of the course of the disease (for example, with malaria, remission occurs due to the peculiar life cycle inherent in the malarial plasmodium), or as a result of treatment of the patient, in which nevertheless a complete recovery does not occur (for example, in the case of cancer )
There are also remissions caused by changes in the body's response to pathogens (this is typical for seasonal allergic reactions or for manifestations of herpes infection).
Partial and complete remission: what is it in medicine
Doctors, in particular oncologists and hematologists, describing the condition of the patient, operate on the concept of partial and complete remission. These options for stopping the development of the disease differ in the degree of disappearance of its symptoms observed in the patient.
So, complete remission is the disappearance of previously manifested external symptoms of the disease, and signs that were determined during laboratory studies. True, such a condition in a patient is sometimes quickly replaced by an exacerbation, so patients often have to use maintenance therapy during remission. But sometimes the described phenomenon is set for months or even years.
By the way, experts consider a patient who has complete remission lasting more than five years, got rid of oncological or hematological pathology. In such cases, it is understood that the likelihood of a new occurrence of this disease (relapse) in such a patient is practically at the same level as in ordinary, not previously ill people.
Partial remission implies a process in which some of the symptoms of the disease persist, but, as a rule, they are less pronounced.
Types of remission in case of leukemia
And for leukemia, for example, there is a more accurate gradation of remission in determining, since in some cases, for example, with a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, long-term remission is difficult to distinguish from full recovery.
So, with clinical and hematological remission, the clinical signs of the disease disappear, and the composition of the bone marrow and peripheral blood normalizes.
With cytogenetic - tumor cells are not detected by cytogenetic analysis.
Molecular examination is characterized by the fact that traces of cancer cells are not found even when using molecular genetic analysis methods.
What is spontaneous remission?
In addition to the above types of slowing down the course of the disease, there is also spontaneous remission.
This is a very little studied phenomenon, which can even be defined as mysterious, in which, for example, in a cancer patient, all laboratory signs of pathology and symptoms that appear externally suddenly disappear. Of course, you need to make a reservation that this phenomenon is quite rare, but nevertheless it is recorded in the history of medicine.
And scientists are trying to understand what exactly makes the body heal in these cases? What triggers his successful immune attack of cancer cells?
What factors may cause prolonged remission in cancer
Researchers who studied the spontaneous remission of cancer patients suggest in such cases that the psychological state of the patient who recognized his diagnosis, namely his attitude to the situation, as to something passing that does not interfere with life, often played a big role in getting rid of a terrible disease.
It is important to know that, strange as it sounds, acute bacterial infections suffered by a cancer patient, such as streptococcal or staphylococcal, accompanied by hunger and fever, also sometimes push the body to a powerful immune attack and then complete remission.
A few words in conclusion
So what is remission? Is it a lull before a new round of illness or getting rid of it? In each case, the doctors will give different answers. But you must always remember that this condition often depends not only on the skill of the doctor, but also on the patient’s will to defeat the disease.