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Stages of Prostate Cancer
... There are many different stages of prostate cancer, in this article we'll look at how these
stages are recognized.
When a
patient is diagnosed with prostate cancer it is very important that the
rate of growth and the stage of the cancer are discovered. This will
allow a doctor to choose the best method of treatment for the patient.
In order to do this the doctor will need to analyze the spread of the
prostate cancer and the speed at which it is growing.
Prostate
cancer cells go through many different stages of growth. Fortunately
practitioners are able to establish these stages by carrying out a
variety of tests on the cancer cells. Once these tests have been
carried out the results are then graded which allows the practitioner
to classify the stage and growth rate of the prostate cancer cells.
One of the
most popular systems that is used to grade the stages of prostate
cancer is known as the Gleason system. This involves the
cancer cells being compared to regular cells. The cancer cells are
graded based on their appearance in comparison to the normal cells,
using a scale of 1 - 5. 1 means the cancer cells look similar to a
normal cell whilst 5 means the cancer cell barely resembles a normal
cell.
However
this method is not perfect. A problem arises with this method due to
the fact that cancer cells in different parts of the prostate may be at
different stages of development.
In order to
overcome this problem, the two areas of the prostate that are most
effect by cancer are compared to normal cells. These scores are then
added together to get an overall score between 2 and 10. A score of 10
means the cancer is aggressive.
In order to
find out how far the prostate cancer has spread the TNM system is used.
This system takes into account the size of the tumor, the presence of
related cancers appearing in other parts of the body and the degree to
which the cancer has affected the lymph nodes.
Once the
TNM system has been used the stages of prostate cancer can be
classified as either T1, T2, T3, or T4 cancer. If the prostate cancer
is diagnosed T1 or T2 that means that only affects the prostate gland.
T3 and T4 cancer, means it has spread outside of the prostate gland. If
this is the case other tests will be carried out to establish how far
the prostate cancer has spread.
Prostate
cancer affects individuals in different ways. In some people it grows
slowly whilst in other people it is more aggressive and grows faster.
Fortunately if prostate cancer is diagnosed early the chances of
survival are greatly increased. But the longer it takes for it to be
diagnosed the lower the chances of survival get.
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