The short answer
Remission means the signs and symptoms of cancer have decreased or disappeared. It can be partial or complete. Cure means the cancer is gone and will not come back. Because that is hard to be certain of, doctors often speak of remission rather than cure.
Remission means the signs and symptoms of cancer have decreased or gone away.
Remission can be partial (some cancer remains) or complete (no signs can be found).
Complete remission is not the same as cure — some cancer cells may remain that tests cannot detect.
Cure means the cancer is gone and will not come back, which can only be judged with time.
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50 sec · Captioned · Remission and cure mean different things — and time is what separates them.
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This page is for people who have heard the word remission and want to know how it differs from a cure. It explains both terms and what follow-up looks like after remission.
The short version
These two words sound similar but mean different things, and the difference matters. Remission means the signs and symptoms of cancer have decreased or disappeared. Cure means the cancer is gone and will not come back. Because it is hard to be certain a cancer will never return, doctors often speak of remission — even long-lasting remission — rather than cure.
What remission means
Remission is good news, and it comes in two forms:
- Partial remission — the cancer has shrunk or decreased, but some remains.
- Complete remission — no signs of cancer can be found with current tests.
Complete remission is sometimes called "no evidence of disease," or NED. It is a hopeful result, but it is not quite the same as cure.
Why complete remission is not the same as cure
Even when no signs of cancer can be found, a small number of cancer cells may remain. They can be too small to show up on follow-up tests. If those cells grow over time, the cancer can come back. That is called a recurrence, and it does not mean the treatment you had was wrong. For this reason, doctors watch over time before using the word "cure," and follow-up visits continue after remission begins.
What cure means
Cure means the cancer is gone and will not return. This can only be judged with time. As months and years pass with no sign of the cancer, confidence grows. Different cancers behave in different ways, so the stretch of time that counts as reassuring is not the same for everyone.
Living after remission
Many people stay in remission for years, or for the rest of their lives. Because some cancers can return, follow-up care continues so any change can be caught early. Questions to ask your care team:
- Am I in partial or complete remission?
- What does my follow-up plan look like, and how often will I have check-ups?
- Which symptoms should prompt a call?
Your team can explain what these words mean for your specific situation.
Sources
Common questions
What does remission mean?
Remission means the signs and symptoms of cancer have decreased or disappeared. In partial remission, some cancer remains but has shrunk. In complete remission, no signs of cancer can be found with current tests. Remission is not the same as cure.
Is complete remission the same as being cured?
Not necessarily. Complete remission means no signs of cancer can be found, but some cells may remain that tests cannot detect. That is why doctors watch over time before using the word 'cure,' and why follow-up visits continue after remission.
Why do doctors avoid the word 'cure'?
Cure means the cancer is gone and will not return, and that can only be judged with time. Because there is no test that can prove no cancer cells remain, many doctors speak of remission — sometimes long-lasting remission — rather than cure.
Does remission mean the cancer will come back?
Not necessarily. Many people stay in remission for years or for the rest of their lives. But because some cancers can return, follow-up care continues so any change can be caught early. Your care team explains what to expect for your situation.
Questions to ask your doctor
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Plain-language definitions for both sides of the comparison.
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Last updated: 2026-08-11Next planned review: 2027-07-14
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Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
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