what is it called when cancer comes back

When cancer comes back after being gone for a while, it is usually called “cancer recurrence” or “recurrent cancer.”

Quick Scoop

• The medical term for cancer coming back is cancer recurrence.

• You might also hear people say “my cancer relapsed” or “I have cancer again,” but doctors most often use “recurrence.”

• Recurrence can happen in the same place as before or in a different part of the body.

Types of cancer recurrence

Doctors often break recurrence into three main types:

1. Local recurrence
   Cancer comes back in the same place (or very close) to where it started the first time.

2. Regional recurrence
   Cancer returns in nearby lymph nodes or tissues close to the original site.

3. Distant recurrence (metastatic recurrence)
   Cancer shows up in parts of the body far from where it began; this is often called metastatic or stage 4 cancer.

A quick example

If someone had breast cancer treated and was cancer‑free for a while, then cancer cells appear again in the breast area, that’s called a local breast cancer recurrence.

If later it appears in the liver, it is still considered a breast cancer recurrence that has metastasized, not a “new liver cancer.”

Important note: If this question is about you or someone close to you, it’s really important to talk directly with the treating doctor. They can explain whether it’s a recurrence, progression, or a brand‑new cancer and what it means for treatment choices.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.