Introduction to Cancer Patient Follow-Up

Cancer patient follow-up is performed by hospital-based and many population-based registries with similar procedures involved in following patients. The follow-up system can promote optimal patient care and provide a valuable record of patient outcomes.

The primary purposes of follow-up are to

• Ensure continued medical surveillance to determine outcomes of the treatment.
• Monitor the health status of the cancer population.

Follow-up information provides the documentation of evidence of disease or its spread, recurrences, or additional malignancies. Subsequent treatments should be included in the patient hospital database.

Updated: December 11, 2023