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reast cancer survivors should be aware that the disease could return five to 10 years after it is initially beaten if they fail to lead a healthy lifestyle, doctors says.

Samuel J. Haryono, an oncology surgeon who works at Dharmais Cancer Hospital, said on Saturday that commitment to a healthy lifestyle coupled with post-cancer therapy was the best course to avoid a breast cancer relapse.

Samuel said physicians would only refer to breast cancer patients as “cancer survivors” if they went five to 10 years without relapse, meaning the patient stayed free of cancer of all kinds for this period.

“Poor lifestyle and incomplete medical treatment may result in a recurrence of the disease, especially for patients with a family history of cancer,” he said.

Data from Dharmais Hospital shows that in the last five years, breast cancer had accounted for 32 percent of all of its cancer cases, followed by cervical cancer, with 17 percent.

Of all the breast cancer cases, about 40 percent of patients caught the disease in the early stage, 30 percent in the locally advanced stage, and 30 percent in the advanced or metastatic stages, and therefore could not be treated successfully.

The data showed that every week, one in two breast cancer patients treated at the hospital were declared “cured”, meaning that they had not shown signs of a relapse within five years of being cured.

New cases of breast cancer caught in the early stage had increased by about 4 to 6 percent every year, the data showed.

It was advised that patients with breast cancer routinely consult with their physician for several months after undergoing early-stage treatment, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. They should then continue medical treatment for about five to 10 years.

“They will have a far larger number of cancer cells; perhaps even exceeding the number of healthy cells in their body,” Samuel said.

He said many cancer patients did not diligently follow their medical courses, for a variety of reasons, including inability to pay, jumping to an alternative cure, and the sometimes extreme side effects of chemotherapy.

“Only good communication with healthcare workers and adequate support from family can result in a higher rate of patient diligence in undergoing therapy,” Samuel said.

Aru Wisaksono Sudoyo, an oncology specialist from the University of Indonesia’s School of Medicine, said that about 30 percent of cancer cases could be prevented through healthy lifestyle, including quitting smoking, drinking alcohol, exercising routinely and eating healthily from an early age.