The Four Stages of Prostate Cancer

There are four stages of prostate cancer, and doctors have to conduct investigations and tests on their patients to assess which stage their cancer is at. This is important because it is dependent at what the stage is as to what treatment is given to combat the disease.

To arrive at how the measure of staging the size of the tumor is assessed, and whether the lymph glands, or nodes are affected and also whether or not the cancer has spread to other parts of the body the following staging is used.

Stage 1

The cancer is very small and completely within the prostate gland. When a rectal examination is carried out the doctor cannot feel anything. Further tests would need to be completed to ascertain that a tumor was present. This is the very early stages where treatment will have the very best outcome.

Stage 2

The cancer is still confined within the prostate gland, but it has become larger, and a distinct hard lump can be felt when a rectal examination is carried out. The doctor will now have his suspicions about what the problem is, the blood work and tests he orders will just be to confirm hi suspicions.

Stage 3

The cancer has broken through the covering of the prostate and may have grown into the surrounding tissue including the neck of the bladder or the seminal vesicle. The man who has the tumor probably be experiencing quite a lot of discomfort and distress when trying to pass urine. He may well be feeling quite ill at this time with various aches and pains, he may also start to lose weight.  

Stage 4

The cancer has spread to other parts of the body, either the bones or the lymph glands. Usually prostate cancer is more likely to spread to the bones, and this can occur when the cancer is very small. When this occurs the stage of the cancer is determined by its presence in the bone; in other words it is a cancer within stage 4.

The prognosis for prostate cancer depends not only on your age and the stage of your cancer it depends very much on your mental attitude. This is the case with cancer in general, not just of the prostate.

Many people automatically assume that a diagnosis of cancer is a life sentence. This is just not the case. Many more people defeat cancer than those who die of it. Unfortunately it is those people who refuse to accept their illness that put their lives most at risk.

Most doctors' agree that patients who maintain the most positive attitude to their cancer manage much better than those patients who get depressed. Some doctors go even further by stating an optimistic approach helps strengthen the bodies' natural protective mechanisms. This means remaining positive improves your immune responses and you have a much better chance of defeating your illness.

In essence, the chances are that most sufferers of prostate cancer will live a long and healthy life as long as they remain proactive and optimistic.

Prostate cancer news on the Web

Task Force Recommends Against PSA-Based Screening For Prostate Cancer: Evidence Show Harms Of PSA Testing Outweigh The Benefits
Following a period for public comment, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) released its final recommendation for prostate cancer screening. The Task Force now recommends against PSA-based screening for all men, regardless of age...

The Impact Of Urologic Diseases On The American Public
Urologic conditions like urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and prostate cancer are a major economic burden on Americans, resulting in health care costs of close to $40 billion annually, according to a newly released national report that charts the demographic and economic impact of urologic diseases in the U.S...

Patients Treated In Early Stages Of Prostate Cancer Relieved Of Urinary Symptoms
Treatment of early stage prostate cancer can also result in improved quality of life for a subgroup of men who suffer from lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), according to an abstract of a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center-led study presented to the American Urological Association...

Distinct Molecular Subtype Of Prostate Cancer Discovered
A collaborative expedition into the deep genetics of prostate cancer has uncovered a distinct subtype of the disease, one that appears to account for up to 15 percent of all cases, say researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute...

Aggressive Characteristics In Prostate, Bladder And Skin Cancers, And The Protein RAL
We have known for years that when the proteins RalA and RalB are present, cells in dishes copy toward aggressive forms of cancer. However, until now, no study had explored the effects of RAL proteins in human cancers - an essential step on the path to developing drugs to target these proteins...

Hormone-Depleting Drug Shows Promise Against Localized High-Risk Prostate Tumors
A hormone-depleting drug approved last year for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer can help eliminate or nearly eliminate tumors in many patients with aggressive cancers that have yet to spread beyond the prostate, according to a clinical study to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), June 1-5, in Chicago...

Teaching Hospitals With Fellowship Programs Have Less Radical Prostatectomy Complications
Patients who undergo radical surgery for prostate cancer may expect better results, on average, if they're treated in accredited teaching hospitals with residency programs, and better still if the hospitals also have medical fellowships, according to a new study by Henry Ford Hospital...

Racial Disparities Revealed In Prostate Cancer Surgery
Black prostate cancer patients may not be getting the same quality of care as white patients, according to a first-of-its-kind study by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital who found racial disparities in the results of surgery to remove diseased prostates...

Avoiding Repeat Biopsies In Prostate Cancer - MDxHealth Launches ConfirmMDx
Each year, in the United States, more than 650,000 men receive a negative prostate biopsy result, with around 25-35% of these results being false negative. However, a new prostate cancer test has been launched by MdxHealth. The test - ConfirmMDx™ for Prostate Cancer - will help physicians identify which men have a true-negative prostate biopsy from those who may have occult cancer...

In Outcome Of Prostate Cancer Surgery, Higher Hospital Volume More Important Than Surgeon Experience
Older, sicker, high-risk patients who undergo one of the most common treatments for prostate cancer get better results in larger, busier hospitals, according to new research by Henry Ford Hospital. In such cases, the same research showed the experience level of the surgeon doing the procedure mattered somewhat less than the hospital setting...

Biomarkers Discovered For Prostate Cancer Detection, Recurrence
Alterations to the "on-off" switches of genes occur early in the development of prostate cancer and could be used as biomarkers to detect the disease months or even years earlier than current approaches, a Mayo Clinic study has found...

In Prostate Cancer, Genetic Abnormalities In Benign Or Malignant Tissues Predict Relapse
While active monitoring of serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels in men over 50 has greatly improved early detection of prostate cancer, prediction of clinical outcomes after diagnosis remains a major challenge...

Younger And At-Risk Men Benefit From PSA Screening To Detect Prostate Cancer
Screening younger men and men at risk of prostate cancer can be beneficial in reducing metastatic cancer and deaths and should not be abandoned, states an article published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)...

Ancient Remedy Slows Prostate Tumor Cell Proliferation
An over-the-counter natural remedy derived from honeybee hives arrests the growth of prostate cancer cells and tumors in mice, according to a new paper from researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester, or CAPE, is a compound isolated from honeybee hive propolis, the resin used by bees to patch up holes in hives...

Prostate Cancer Stem Cells Identified Among Low-PSA Cells
Prostate cancer cells that defy treatment and display heightened tumor-generating capacity can be identified by levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) expressed in the tumor cells, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in Cell Stem Cell...

Gay Men And Minorities Have Poorer Quality Of Life After Prostate Cancer Treatment
To improve the quality of life in gay men and minorities treated for prostate cancer, a greater awareness of ethnic and sexual preference-related factors is needed to help men choose a more-suitable treatment plan, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital conclude in a literature review published in Nature Reviews Urology...

Boron-Nitride Nanotubes Show Potential In Cancer Treatment
A new study has shown that adding boron-nitride nanotubes to the surface of cancer cells can double the effectiveness of Irreversible Electroporation, a minimally invasive treatment for soft tissue tumors in the liver, lung, prostate, head and neck, kidney and pancreas. Although this research is in the very early stages, it could one day lead to better therapies for cancer...

Cancer Survivors Told To Exercise, Eat Healthily, And Maintain Ideal Bodyweight
If you are a cancer survivor and you want to minimize your risk of that cancer recurring, or another cancer developing, you should eat a healthy diet, do plenty of exercise, and maintain a healthy body weight, says the American Cancer Society in its new guidelines...

Denosumab (Xgeva) Not Approved For Metastasis Prevention
Amgen's application for expanded indications for denosumab (Xgeva) were turned down by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) - the expanded indications were to include bone metastases prevention in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer...

Robot Assisted Prostate Cancer Surgery Associated With Fewer Complicated Outcomes
A study published in the medical journal European Urology reveals that robot-assisted surgery to treat prostate cancer is more common and significantly more successful in the United States than radical "open" surgery...

The Aggressiveness Of Prostate Cancer Determined By New Diagnostic Tool
One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, the second leading cause of death among men in the United States. It's a serious problem and current diagnostic tests aren't very specific...

Prostate Cancer Cells Destroyed By The Common Herb Oregano
Oregano, the common pizza and pasta seasoning herb, has long been known to possess a variety of beneficial health effects, but a new study by researchers at Long Island University (LIU) indicates that an ingredient of this spice could potentially be used to treat prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in American men...

Robot-Assisted Prostate Cancer Surgery Leads To Fewer Complications, Better Outcomes
Robot-assisted surgery is now both more common and far more successful than radical "open" surgery to treat prostate cancer in the United States, according to a new Henry Ford Hospital study published in the current issue of the medical journal European Urology...

Males With Mutated BRCA1 Breast Cancer Gene Have Higher Prostate Cancer Risk
Men who carry the mutated BRCA1 gene have a four times greater chance of developing prostate cancer than other males, researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust reported in the British Cancer Journal. The mutated BRCA1 is found in people with a family history of not only breast cancer, but ovarian cancer as well...

Prostate Cancer And Radiation Therapies - The Need For Additional Treatments
In the April 18 issue of JAMA, a study comparing traditional radiation therapy to treat localized prostate cancer with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and proton therapy reveals thats IMRT was linked to fewer gastrointestinal side effects, receipt of additional cancer treatments and hip fractures but to more erectile dysfunction, whilst those who received proton ...