Muna Al-Khaifi, Lead of Breast Cancer Survivorship Program and GP oncologist, Skin Cancer Clinic at Sunnybrook, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Why cancer survivorship care needs to be reframed
- We’re doing better than ever at treating cancer.
Nearly 70% of people diagnosed with cancer now live 5 years or longer. That’s a huge success. It also means survivorship is no longer rare — there are 18+ million people living with and beyond cancer in the U.S. and over 1.5 million in Canada, and those numbers keep growing.
- But survivorship care hasn’t kept up with survival.
Too often, it’s treated as something that starts after treatment ends — when in reality, survivorship begins at diagnosis.
- Planning for life after cancer shouldn’t be an afterthought.
Long-term effects, quality of life, and functional outcomes need to be anticipated from day one, alongside treatment decisions.
- Survivorship isn’t a short phase — it’s ongoing.
People’s needs change over time as they age, return to work, raise families, or develop late effects. Episodic follow-ups alone don’t meet those needs.
- And survivorship care is more than surveillance.
Monitoring for recurrence matters, but survivors are also living with fatigue, pain, cognitive changes, menopause and sexual health concerns, mental health challenges, and financial stress — often with no clear ownership in the system.
- This work can’t live in silos.
Good survivorship care depends on coordination between oncology, primary care, mental health, rehabilitation, and supportive services — with shared plans and continuity.
- We also need to support the people providing this care.
As the survivor population grows, clinicians need training, time, and system support to address survivorship issues well.
- Technology can help — if used thoughtfully.
Digital symptom monitoring, patient-reported outcomes, and data tools can help identify problems earlier and personalize care, while keeping patients connected.
- And finally, survival alone isn’t enough.
Success should also be measured by quality of life, function, wellbeing, and the ability to return to meaningful life roles.
Survivorship isn’t an optional add-on. It’s a core part of modern cancer care — and it deserves the same attention as diagnosis and treatment.”
Other OncoDaily articles featuring Muna Al-Khaifi.