How Fast Does Prostate Cancer Develop

Looking For More Survivorship Resources

For more information about cancer survivorship, explore these related items. Please note that these links will take you to other sections of Cancer.Net:

• ASCO Answers Cancer Survivorship Guide:Get this 44-page booklet that helps people transition into life after treatment. It includes blank treatment summary and survivorship care plan forms. The free booklet is available as a PDF, so it is easy to print.

• Cancer.Net Patient Education Video:View a short video led by an ASCO expert that provides information about what comes after finishing treatment.

• Survivorship Resources: Cancer.Net offers an entire area of this website with resources to help survivors, including those in different age groups.

The next section offers Questions to Ask the Health Care Team to help start conversations with your cancer care team. Use the menu to choose a different section to read in this guide.

This is the end of Cancer.Nets Guide to Prostate Cancer. Use the menu to choose a different section to read in this guide.

What Questions Should I Ask My Healthcare Provider

If you have prostate cancer, you may want to ask your healthcare provider:

• Why did I get prostate cancer?
• What is my Gleason score? What is my Grade Group? What do these numbers mean for me?
• Has the cancer spread outside of the prostate gland?
• What is the best treatment for the stage of prostate cancer I have?
• If I choose active surveillance, what can I expect? What signs of cancer should I look out for?
• What are the treatment risks and side effects?
• Is my family at risk for developing prostate cancer? If so, should we get genetic tests?
• Am I at risk for other types of cancer?
• What type of follow-up care do I need after treatment?
• Should I look out for signs of complications?

A note from Cleveland Clinic

Prostate cancer is a common cancer that affects males. Most prostate cancers grow slowly and remain in the prostate gland. For a small number, the disease can be aggressive and spread quickly to other parts of the body. Men with slow-growing prostate cancers may choose active surveillance. With this approach, you can postpone, and sometimes completely forego, treatments. Your healthcare provider can discuss the best treatment option for you based on your Gleason score and Group Grade.

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Talking With Your Health Care Team About Side Effects

Before starting treatment, talk with your doctor about possible side effects. Ask:

• Which side effects are most likely?

• When are they likely to happen?

• What can we do to prevent or relieve them?

Be sure to tell your health care team about any side effects that happen during treatment and afterward, too. Tell them even if you do not think the side effects are serious. This discussion should include physical, emotional, social, and financial effects of cancer.

Also, ask how much care you may need at home and with daily tasks during and after treatment. This can help you make a caregiving plan. Create a caregiving plan with this 1-page fact sheet that includes an action plan to help make caregiving a team effort. This free fact sheet is available as a PDF, so it is easy to print.

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Stem Cell Or Bone Marrow Transplant

A stem cell transplant, sometimes called bone marrow transplant, replaces damaged blood-forming cells with healthy ones. The procedure takes place following large-dose chemotherapy or radiation therapy to kill cancer cells and to stop your stem cells from producing cancerous cells.

Stem cell transplants can be used for several types of cancer, including multiple myeloma and some kinds of leukemia.

Looking For More Of An Introduction

If you would like more of an introduction, explore these related items. Please note that these links will take you to other sections on Cancer.Net:

• ASCO Answers Fact Sheet:Read a 1-page fact sheet that offers an introduction to prostate cancer. This free fact sheet is available as a PDF, so it is easy to print.

• ASCO Answers Guide:Get this free 44-page booklet that helps you better understand the disease and treatment options. The booklet is available as a PDF, so it is easy to print.

• Cancer.Net Patient Education Video:View a short video led by an ASCO expert in prostate cancer that provides basic information and areas of research.

• Cancer.Net En Español: Read about prostate cancer in Spanish or read a 1-page ASCO Answers Fact Sheet in Spanish. Infórmase sobre cáncer de próstata en español o una hoja informativa de una página, Respuestas sobre el cáncer.

The next section in this guide is Statistics. It helps explain the number of people who are diagnosed with prostate cancer and general survival rates. Use the menu to choose a different section to read in this guide.

ON THIS PAGE:;You will find information about the number of people who are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. You will also read general information on surviving the disease. Remember, survival rates depend on several factors. Use the menu to see other pages.

Statistics adapted from the American Cancer Society’s publication,;Cancer Facts & Figures 2021, and the ACS website .

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Finding Out If The Cancer Has Spread

To find out if cancer has spread outside of the prostate, doctors may perform the imaging tests listed below. Doctors are able to estimate the risk of spread, called metastasis, based on PSA levels, tumor grade, and other factors, but an imaging test can confirm and provide information about the cancers location.

Imaging tests may not always be needed. A CT scan or bone scan may not be necessary for those with no symptoms and low-risk, early-stage prostate cancer, as determined with information from the PSA test and biopsy. Learn more about when these tests are recommended to find out if the cancer has spread.

For people with advanced prostate cancer, ASCO recommends that 1 or more of the imaging tests below be done to provide more information about the disease and help plan the best treatment. This includes when there is a newly diagnosed, high-risk cancer; if metastasis is suspected or confirmed; if the cancer has returned following treatment; or when the cancer grows during the treatment period. Learn more about this guideline on the ASCO website.

Magnetic resonance imaging . An MRI scan uses magnetic fields, not x-rays, to produce detailed images of the body. An MRI can be used to measure the tumors size, and a scan can focus specifically on the area of the prostate or on the whole body. A special dye called contrast medium is given before the scan to create a clearer picture, which is injected into a patients vein.

What Is My Outlook

If youre diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, you may want to know how well your treatment is likely to control your cancer and for how long it will control it. This is sometimes called your outlook or prognosis. But not all men will want to know this.

While it isnt possible to cure advanced prostate cancer, treatments can help keep it under control, often for several years. Treatments will also help manage any symptoms, such as pain.

No one can tell you exactly what your outlook will be, as it will depend on many things such as where the cancer has spread to, how quickly it has spread, and how well you respond to treatment. Some men may not respond well to one treatment, but may respond better to another. And when your first treatment stops working, there are other treatments available to help keep the cancer under control for longer. Speak to your doctor about your own situation and any questions or concerns you have.

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Stage Iv Prostate Cancer Prognosis

Prostate cancers detected at the distant stage have an average five-year survival rate of 28 percent, which is much lower than local and regional cancers of the prostate. This average survival rate represents stage IV prostate cancers that have metastasized beyond nearby areas to lymph nodes, organs or bones in other parts of the body.

How We Treat Prostate Cancer

The prognosis for metastatic prostate cancer can be discouraging, but some treatment centerslike the Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for Prostate Cancerspecialize in innovative, individualized therapy with the potential to improve outcomes.

Questions You May Want To Consider Asking Your Doctor Include:

• What type of prostate problem do I have?
• Is more testing needed and what will it tell me?
• If I decide on watchful waiting, what changes in my symptoms should I look for and how often should I be tested?
• What type of treatment do you recommend for my prostate problem?
• For men like me, has this treatment worked?
• How soon would I need to start treatment and how long would it last?
• Do I need medicine and how long would I need to take it before seeing improvement in my symptoms?
• What are the side effects of the medicine?
• Are there other medicines that could interfere with this medication?
• If I need surgery, what are the benefits and risks?
• Would I have any side effects from surgery that could affect my quality of life?
• Are these side effects temporary or permanent?
• How long is recovery time after surgery?
• Will I be able to fully return to normal?
• How will this affect my sex life?
• How often should I visit the doctor to monitor my condition?

Related Resources

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What Causes Prostate Cancer

The exact cause of prostate cancer is not known. The tumor arises from cells with abnormal deoxyribonucleic acid changes in the prostate. These abnormal cells rapidly grow and divide, invading surrounding structures and can spread to other parts of the body .

Risk factors

There are certain factors that can increase the risk of prostate cancer. These include;

• Age: The risk of prostate cancer increases with age and is most commonly seen after the age of 50.
• Race: African American men have a higher risk of prostate cancer than men of other ethnicities. Cancer in African Americans is also more likely to be aggressive.
• Family history: If a blood relative has prostate cancer, it increases the risk as well. Having a family history of genes that increase the risk of breast cancer or a very strong family history of breast cancer also increases the risk of developing prostate cancer.
• Obesity: Obese people have a higher risk of developing prostate cancer, which is also more likely to be aggressive and recurrent despite treatment.;

Risk Factors For Prostate Cancer

Some risk factors have been linked to prostate cancer. A risk factor is something that can raise your chance of developing a disease. Having one or more risk factors doesn’t mean that you will get prostate cancer. It just means that your risk of the disease is greater.

• Age. Men who are 50 or older have a higher risk of prostate cancer.
• Race. African-American men have the highest risk of prostate cancerâthe disease tends to start at younger ages and grows faster than in men of other races. After African-American men, prostate cancer is most common among white men, followed by Hispanic and Native American men. Asian-American men have the lowest rates of prostate cancer.
• Family history. Men whose fathers or brothers have had prostate cancer have a 2 to 3 times higher risk of prostate cancer than men who do not have a family history of the disease. A man who has 3 immediate family members with prostate cancer has about 10 times the risk of a man who does not have a family history of prostate cancer. The younger a man’s relatives are when they have prostate cancer, the greater his risk for developing the disease. Prostate cancer risk also appears to be slightly higher for men from families with a history of breast cancer.
• Diet. The risk of prostate cancer may be higher for men who eat high-fat diets.

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Prostate Cancer Lives As It Is Born: Slow

• By Daniel Pendick, Former Executive Editor, Harvard Men’s Health Watch

This year, more than 238,000 American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. In most cases, the cancer consists of small knots of abnormal cells growing slowly in the walnut-sized prostate gland. In many men, the cancer cells grow so slowly that they never break free of the gland, spread to distant sites, and pose a serious risk to health and longevity.

Evidence is growing that early treatment with surgery or radiation prevents relatively few men from ultimately dying from prostate cancer, while leaving many with urinary or erectile problems and other side effects. As a result, more men may be willing to consider a strategy called active surveillance, in which doctors monitor low-risk cancers closely and consider treatment only when the disease appears to make threatening moves toward growing and spreading.

This week, a study by Harvard researchers found that the aggressiveness of prostate cancer at diagnosis appears to remain stable over time for most men. If thats true, then prompt treatment can be reserved for the cancers most likely to pose a threat, whereas men can reasonably choose to watch and wait in other cases.

If you have chosen active surveillance, then this could possibly make you feel more confident in your decision, says Kathryn L. Penney, Sc.D., instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of a report published today in the journal Cancer Research.

Gleason Prostate Cancer Score

1960s as a way to measure how aggressive your prostate cancer may be.

A pathologist determines your Gleason score by looking at a biopsy of your prostate tissue under a microscope. They grade the cells in the biopsy on a scale of 1 to 5. Grade 1 cells are healthy prostate, whereas grade 5 cells are highly mutated and dont resemble healthy cells at all.

The pathologist will calculate your Gleason score by adding together the number of the most prevalent type of cell in the sample and the second most prevalent type of cell.

For example, if the most common cell grade in your sample is 4 and the second most common is 4, you would have a score of 8.

A Gleason score of 6 is considered low-grade cancer, 7 is intermediate, and 8 to 10 is high-grade cancer.

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Talking With Your Doctor

Different kinds of doctors and other health care professionals manage prostate health. They can help you find the best care, answer your questions, and address your concerns. These health care professionals include:

• Family doctors and internists
• Physician assistants and nurse practitioners
• Urologists, who are experts in diseases of the urinary tract system and the male reproductive system
• Urologic oncologists, who are experts in treating cancers of the urinary system and the male reproductive system
• Radiation oncologists, who use radiation therapy to treat cancer
• Medical oncologists, who treat cancer with medications such as hormone treatments and chemotherapy
• Pathologists, who identify diseases by studying cells and tissues under a microscope

View these professionals as your partnersâexpert advisors and helpers in your health care. Talking openly with your doctors can help you learn more about your prostate changes and the tests to expect.

How To Spot Prostate Cancer Early

There are two types of screening that your doctor may recommend: the first requires blood collection to measure the level of the prostate-specific antigen PSA. Higher levels often indicate the presence of prostate cancer.

The second test is a physical examination in which a doctor puts on gloves, lubricates the finger and inserts it into the rectum to see if the prostate is enlarged. If any of the results indicate the possibility of prostate cancer, your doctor will recommend further tests.

“Early-stage prostate cancer typically does not have any physical signs or symptoms,” said Dr. Salim Cheriyan, a urologist with Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Group. “This is why discussing the risks and benefits of screening with your physician is an important part of detecting prostate cancer.”

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When Does Bph Need To Be Treated

Whether you need to treat BPH depends on your symptoms. If your symptoms are not severe, you probably wont need treatment. But difficulty urinating, recurring infections, kidney damage, or a leaky bladder can really impact your quality of life. In these cases, medications or sometimes surgery will help.

About Rare Prostate Cancers

Although prostate cancer is a common cancer in men, there are different types of prostate cancer, and some of these are rare. Because they are rare, we dont know as much about them. If you are diagnosed with one of the cancers mentioned here, speak to your doctor or nurse about what that means and what treatments are suitable for you.

Like most things in our body, the prostate is made up of different types of cells . The type of cancer that develops depends on the cell it starts in.

The most common type of prostate cancer starts in some of the cells that line the prostate, called glandular epithelial cells. There are two types of gland cells basal cells and luminal cells . Prostate cancer can develop in either of these cells.

When we talk about common prostate cancer here, we mean this type of prostate cancer. You may hear it called adenocarcinoma or acinar adenocarcinoma or see this written in your biopsy results .

Rarer types of cancer can also develop from gland cells, or from other types of cells in the prostate.

Some men have more than one type of prostate cancer. For example, they may have some common prostate cancer as well as a rare cancer.

Some of the rare cancers may be more aggressive than common prostate cancer. This means they may grow faster and are more likely to spread outside the prostate.

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