Prostate Cancer Stage

Prostate cancer is a disease that affects the prostate gland in males. Prostate cancer begins with an abnormal growth of cells which begin to grow uncontrollably in the prostate gland. The cells, which form a tumor, may then break off and begin to spread to other parts of the body. This is a life threatening situation. Prostate cancer is one of the leading cancers among men in the United States and is the leading cause of cancer deaths among men in the United States . Each year approximately 200,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed and about 30,000 men die from the disease. Prostate cancer tends to be slow growing, however; it can also be quite aggressive, which can make prostate cancer treatment difficult. Because of the fact that prostate cancer is slow growing, and can develop over a period of years, there may be no early prostate cancer symptom. The lack of a prostate cancer symptom early in the development of the disease makes it difficult to detect and unfortunately many men have already progressed to a later stage of the disease before it is detected, making life saving measurers more difficult.

Although at one time prostate cancer was extremely difficult, in recent years physicians and researchers have made significant strides in treating prostate cancer and the chances of surviving prostate cancer are now much better than they once were.

In most cases the prostate cancer treatment plan will depend on a number of factors. First, the doctor will need to make an evaluation regarding which prostate cancer stage to which the cancer has progressed. This will make a difference in the treatment options that are available. Mainly the determination of the prostate cancer stage will depend on whether the prostate cancer has spread to other areas of the body and if so, how much the other areas have been compromised.

At the current time there are two systems used by physicians to make a prostate cancer stage determination. The first is known as the Whitmore-Jewett staging system and it ranges from A to D with separate sub-stages to allow for more precise definition of the prostate cancer development. During the A prostate cancer stage the cancer is generally confined to the prostate gland. In the B prostate cancer stage the prostate cancer may not have spread to other areas but has grown to a point where it can be felt during a rectal exam or picked up with a needle biopsy. During the C prostate cancer stage, the prostate cancer has spread outside of the prostate gland but the lymph nodes have not yet been compromised. The D prostate cancer stage refers to the spread of the prostate cancer to the lymph nodes and beyond.

The TNM staging system is also quite popular and was developed in 1992. Today it is the most frequently used system to stage prostate cancer. This system describes the spread of the prostate cancer by a primary tumor definition noted with a T, the absence or presence of the prostate cancer in nearby lymph nodes or glands with a N and finally with the absence or presence of distant prostate cancer spreading with a M.

Under the T1 prostate cancer stage the cancer is basically clinically unapparent and cannot be detected by imaging or a DRE. Various subcategories refer to accidental finding of prostate cancer. Under T2 prostate cancer stage the prostate cancer is confined to the prostate and may be detectable by a DRE. T2a refers to a tumor which involves half of the lobe or less while T2b refers to a tumor that involves more than one half of the lobe, but not both lobes. T2c refers to prostate cancer that involves both lobes. Under the T3 prostate cancer stage the tumor has extended beyond the prostate but has not yet spread to any other organs. T4 refers to a tumor that has invaded other adjacent structures.

Under the N prostate cancer stage, a determination is made to the invasion of the cancer in the lymph nodes. N0 refers to no metastasis. N1refers to the spread of the cancer to a single lymph node, while 2 refers to the spread of the cancer to a single lymph node in a dimension that is somewhere between 2cm and 5cm. N3 refers to the spread of the cancer to the lymph node in a greater than 5cm dimension.

Under a basic prostate cancer stage system, there are four primary stages. In the first prostate cancer stage the cancer is present only in the prostate gland and cannot be felt during a rectal exam and is also not visible by any type of imaging system. There are also typically no prostate cancer symptoms at this point. In most cases of the first prostate cancer stage, the cancer is discovered because of the results of a blood test in which there appeared to be an elevated PSA. In the first prostate cancer stage, the cancerous cells may be confined to one area of the prostate gland or they may have spread to many separate areas of the prostate gland. During the second prostate cancer stage, the cancer can be noted with a needle biopsy which is generally done when a blood test indicated a raised PSA level. The cancer may also be felt during a rectal exam in the second prostate cancer stage; although the cancer cells are still confined to the prostate gland at this point.

In the third prostate cancer stage the cancer cells have generally spread outside the covering of the prostate gland to tissues surrounding the prostate gland but not to the lymph nodes at this point. The glands which produce semen, known as the seminal vesicles, may also have cancer cells at the third prostate cancer stage.

During the fourth prostate cancer stage the cancer cells have generally spread to the lymph nodes which may be located near or far from the prostate gland. Other organs may also be compromised by the prostate cancer cells and tissues as far away from the prostate gland as the liver and lungs as well as bones may also contain prostate cancer cells at the fourth prostate cancer stage.