Prostate Cancer Staging
Depending on the progression of the abnormal cells ,prostate cancer staging is classified into four types.The size of the tumor, spread of the tumor to the lymph nodes and spread of the tumor to other parts of the body are some of the factors taken into consideration. One of the important parts of evaluating prostate cancer consists of determining the stage at which the cancer presently exists (staging).
According to one system of prostate cancer staging, the four stages of prostate cancer are:
In Stage 1: the rate of cell growth is very less and is exclusively inside the prostate gland.
In Stage 2: the abnormal cancer cell growth is still limited to the the prostate gland, but is larger a in size forming a lump or hard area which can be felt by a physician, when a rectal examination is done.
Prostate Cancer Staging
In Stage 3: the cancer cells have spread beyond the prostate gland and may effect adjacent organs.
In Stage 4: the cancer has spread to other parts of the body and attacks the bones.
The most important consideration for any staging system is the confinement of the cancer to the prostate. In the TNM system, clinical T1 and T2 cancers are confined only to the prostate, while T3 and T4 cancers have metastasized to other parts and bones. A number of tests give an indication of the spread of cancerThe tests include computed aided tomography for spead in the pelvic region. Bone scans are done to find out the metastases in the bones.Prostate biopsy, is done to find out the grade of the tumor.
There is one more system of prostate cancer staging , by Gleason system.
The Gleason system is used to grade prostate tumors from 2 to 10. The Gleason score of 10 indicates the most advanced stage. The urologist assigns a number from 1 to 5 for the most common pattern observed under the microscope and does the same for the second most common pattern. The total sum of these two numbers is the Gleason score.
Prostate cancer staging is crucial,since it determines the recommended treatment.