progression-free survival progression-free survival
The length of time without a person's illness getting worse.
Example of progression-free survival in a sentence
Some studies look at progression-free survival to see whether a drug helps keep the disease from getting worse.
More Info
Progression-free survival is often used to assess the treatment of diseases that are slow-growing and difficult to cure.
Whether a disease is getting worse is measured via procedures such as scans, test results, biomarkers, self-report, etc.
Other info to think about when joining a study
Depending on the kind of study you are considering or reading about, you may see or hear references to “progression-free survival” during the informed consent process or other informational study materials.
“Progression-free survival” may be used to explain the purpose of a study or explain the reason for particular procedures and tests. For example, a study could be collecting data on how long a person lives without the illness getting worse.
If you have any questions about what it means for a study to look at progression-free survival, you should ask the study team.
