Edwin Lee

Life after cancer does not represent a clear endpoint of illness, but rather reflects the cumulative effects of challenges across diagnosis, treatment, and care coordination.[1] While clinical indicators may suggest recovery, many patients continue to experience persistent physical, psychological, and social burdens that extend beyond the treatment phase. Survivorship, therefore, is more accurately understood not as a return to health, but as an ongoing process of adaptation to long-term and...

Following the transition from specialist care to primary care, a structural gap emerges in both the recognition and coordination of ongoing health needs.[1] As discussed in the transition phase, patients frequently move across multiple levels of care, including specialist services, general practice, and hospital settings, without clear continuity. These transitions represent critical points at which care coordination may break down. Patients discharged from specialist care often lack...

Following treatment, patients do not necessarily transition into a state of full recovery. While specific diseases may be clinically controlled, patients frequently continue to experience persistent symptoms alongside the emergence or co-existence of additional chronic conditions, creating a sustained need for ongoing adaptation. In cancer contexts, survivorship care extends beyond treatment to include ongoing surveillance, management of long-term adverse effects, and comorbidity care, and is...