Spontaneous remission of a disease occurs when there is a marked reduction in its degree of evolution, which cannot be explained by the type of treatment being used. That is, remission does not mean that the disease is completely cured, however, due to the regression of its evolution, it presents greater chances of cure.
In the case of cancer, spontaneous remission usually causes a decrease in the size of the tumor, which facilitates the effect of treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy in the destruction of tumor cells. In addition, in some cases, spontaneous remission may even allow the tumor to be operated on and removed completely.
One of the most common cases of spontaneous remission occurs in people infected with the HPV virus. See when this is most frequent.
Because it happens
There is still no proven explanation for spontaneous remission, however, there are several proposals from science to explain this process. Some of the factors that seem to have the greatest effect are the mediation of the immune system, tumor necrosis, programmed cell death, genetic factors and even hormonal changes.
However, it is also widely accepted that psychological and spiritual factors can play a very important role in remission. Some of the theories surrounding these factors include:
- Placebo effect: according to this theory, the positive expectation in relation to treatment can cause chemical changes in the brain that help fight various types of diseases such as cancer, arthritis, allergies and even diabetes. Better understand how this effect works; Hypnosis: there are several reported cases associated with hypnosis, especially in the accelerated improvement of burns, warts and asthma; Help groups: studies show that breast cancer patients who attend help groups have a longer-than-normal life expectancy; Interaction between diseases: this is a theory that explains the remission of a disease as a result of the appearance of another disease.
In addition, although there are fewer of them, there are also recorded cases of cures, for which science has no explanation.
When happens
There are not yet enough data to affirm the frequency of cases of spontaneous remission, however, according to the numbers recorded, remission is very rare, occurring in 1 in 60 thousand cases.
Although remission can happen in almost all diseases, some cancers have a higher number of cases. These types are neuroblastoma, renal carcinoma, melanoma and leukemias and lymphomas.
