remission
Meaning of remission: A description of what tests and examination can find, which is why complete remission is not the same word as cure.
Definition of remission
Remission is a fall in the signs and symptoms of a disease, or their complete disappearance, whether or not the disease itself has gone. The word is used most in cancer and in long-term inflammatory conditions that run in flares and quiet spells. It describes what can be measured at a point in time, not a permanent state.
What do partial and complete remission mean?
| Term | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Partial remission | Signs and symptoms have decreased substantially but some remain detectable |
| Complete remission | No signs or symptoms can be detected by the tests being used |
| Molecular remission | No disease detectable even by sensitive tests that look for its genetic signature |
| Relapse or recurrence | Disease returns after a period of remission |
The thresholds are defined for each disease so that results can be compared, which is why complete remission and partial remission are technical terms rather than impressions.
Why is complete remission not a cure?
Complete remission is a statement about the limits of detection. A scan cannot see a deposit below a certain size, and a blood test cannot register disease below a certain quantity, so absence of evidence at that sensitivity is what is being reported. Small numbers of surviving cells, described as minimal residual disease, can persist and later multiply, which is what a recurrence is. More sensitive molecular testing pushes the threshold lower but never to zero. Cure is a statement made backwards, once enough time has passed without return, and how much time that takes differs between diseases. This is why follow-up continues after remission is achieved rather than stopping at the good result.
Where else is the word used?
Outside cancer, remission describes the quiet phase of diseases that flare and settle: Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis all use it, and in these conditions remission is often the explicit goal of treatment rather than a step toward cure. Clinical remission means symptoms have settled, while deeper definitions require the underlying inflammation to have settled too, and the two do not always coincide. In solid tumors the word response is now more common than remission, so complete response and complete remission appear in different documents describing much the same finding.
Used in a sentence
The patient's most recent scans showed findings consistent with complete remission.
Good to know
A complete remission reflects the absence of detectable disease by the testing methods in use and is not the same as a confirmed cure, since some conditions recur after a period of remission.
Word origin
Where “remission” comes from
From Latin remittere, meaning to send back or let go, formed from re-, back, and mittere, to send.