When cells in the prostate gland develop uncontrollably, this is the beginning of cancer. Men only have an organ called the prostate. This organ produces a portion of the fluid found in sperm.
The prostate is anterior to the rectum and below the bladder (the hollow organ that stores urine) (the last part of the intestines). Most of the fluid for semen is produced in glands called seminal vesicles, which are located just behind the prostate. In men, the prostate acts as a funnel for the urethra, the tube that transports urine and sperm from the body via the penis. Prostate cancer symptoms early stage begins once the tumour has come to a significant size.
Why is the staging of prostate cancer considered important?
Staging methods provide physicians with a shared language for classifying malignancies. Staging assists you and your prostate specialists in understanding:
- The tumor’s size
- The tumor’s location
- Whether cancer has spread to nearby tissues.
The grading of prostate cancer:
Cancer cells differ in appearance from healthy cells. The more dissimilar the cancer cells appear, the more aggressive they tend to be. The Gleason method uses the numbers 1 to 5 to classify the principal and secondary cell patterns detected in a tissue sample.
Grade 1:
The cells closely resemble normal prostate cells in appearance.
Grades 2-4:
Lower-scoring cells resemble normal cells the most and suggest a less aggressive malignancy. Those with a higher score appear the most abnormal and will likely develop faster.
Grade 5:
Most cells don’t look anything like they should.
Your total Gleason score is made up of your primary number and your secondary number. This tells you how quickly the cancer is spreading. Low-grade cancer has a score of 6, which is the lowest score. Medium-grade cancer has a Gleason score of 7 and high-grade cancer scores of 8, 9, or 10.
The more aggressive your cancer is, the higher your Gleason score. That makes it more likely to grow and spread to other parts of your body. Prostate doctor uses this information and the cancer stage to decide what treatment is best for you.
The TNM system for prostate cancer stages:
Doctors use the TNM system to talk about the stages of prostate cancer, just like they do for most other types of cancer. The system looks at tumour growth and spread from three different angles:
Tumour:
How big is the main area affected by prostate cancer?
Nodes:
Have any lymph nodes been affected? If so, how far? How many?
Metastasis:
How far has the cancer of the prostate gone?
The stages that prostate cancer is segregated into:
In a process called “stage grouping,” the T, N, and M results are added to the Gleason score and PSA level. The numbers range from I (the least advanced) to IV (the most advanced) (the furthest along). The stage helps your doctor figure out how to treat you best. Speak to a urology specialist in Coimbatore to understand the staging in detail.
Stage I:
- Cancer is growing in your prostate but hasn’t spread to other parts of your body.
- The doctor usually can’t feel the tumour or see it on an MRI or DRE.
- The Gleason score is less than 6, and the PSA level is less than 10.
- The tumour covers less than half of one side of the prostate.
Stage IIA:
- Cancer is growing in your prostate but hasn’t spread to other parts of your body.
- During a DRE or an imaging test, the doctor might not be able to feel or see the tumour.
- The tumour can affect more than half of one prostate lobe but not both.
- The PSA level is less than 20, and the Gleason score is 7 or less.
Stage IIB:
- Cancer is growing in your prostate but hasn’t spread to other parts of your body.
- During a DRE or an imaging test, the doctor might not be able to feel or see the tumour.
- The tumour can be in either of the prostate’s two lobes.
- The PSA level is less than 20, and the Gleason score is 7.
Stage IIC:
- The malignancy has not spread beyond the prostate gland.
- During a DRE or an imaging test, the doctor might not be able to feel or see the tumour.
- The tumour can be in either of the prostate’s two lobes.
- The PSA level is less than 20, and the Gleason score is 7 or 8.
- The cancer cells look different than they did in stage IIB.
Stage IIIA:
- In this case, the cancer has not metastasized to other areas of the body.
- During a DRE or an imaging test, the doctor might not be able to feel or see the tumour.
- There are no lymph nodes where cancer has spread.
- The Gleason score is at least 8 and 20 on the PSA scale.
Stage IIIB:
- Cancer has spread outside of the prostate but has not yet reached the lymph nodes or other parts of the body far away from the prostate.
- The Gleason score is 8 or less, and any level of PSA.
Stage IIIC:
- Cancer might have spread outside the prostate, or it might not have.
- There are no lymph nodes where cancer has spread.
- The Gleason score is either 9 or 10, and the PSA score can be any number.
Stage IVA:
- Cancer might have spread to tissues near the prostate, or it might not have.
- Cancer has spread to lymph nodes close to the tumour but not to other body parts.
- Both the Gleason score and the PSA are important.
Almost nine out of ten cases of prostate cancer are found early when the tumours are only in or near the prostate. Early diagnosis and seeking treatment from a prostate cancer hospital can help you recover.
Stage IVB:
- Cancer might have spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes, or it might not have.
- Cancer has spread to the body’s lymph nodes, bones, or other organs far away.
- Both the Gleason score and the PSA are important.
Getting the stage right is important because it affects many things, like which treatment is best for you and how you feel about things. Because of this, it’s important to do a lot of tests to figure out the right stage of prostate cancer.
The outlook of prostate cancer:
Cancer is further along in its development at later stages. Your doctor can figure out the best way to treat your cancer if they know what stage it is in and speak to your urologist to understand the prostate surgery cost.
Prostate cancer has a very high chance of being cured early. Regular checkups with your doctor are the best way to find prostate cancer in its early stages.
