After you have been diagnose having a prostate cancer, the next step would be to give you a series of test to find out if the most cancers cells are just contained in the prostate gland or has already spread with other parts of the body. The process of finding is known as staging.
The result of the test which was given and other information gathered will be the basis in finding the stage of the disease. This is required so that the doctor will have an idea what treatment plan is appropriate for your stage. One of the test or procedure that is being done in staging process is called Radionuclide bone scan. This is a procedure to understand if the cancer cells distribute in the bone.
In Stage I prostate cancer, the actual malignant cancer cells are just contained in the prostate glands. Using needle biopsy, most cancers cells is found about one half or less of the one lobe of prostate. Most of the cancer cells are not visible by image resolution and cannot be felt when having a digital rectal exam. The level of PSA is lower that Ten the Gleason score is 6.
In Stage II, it is more advanced than the Stage I but still the cancers cells were not able to spread outside the prostate. It is divided into Phase IIA or Stage IIB. The PSA level in Stage IIA is at least Ten but lower than 20 while the Gleason score is 7. Cancer is located more or less one-half lobe of the prostate. In Phase IIB on the other and, cancer is located both lobes of the prostate. It is not visible still by image resolution yet nor felt throughout rectal exam.
In the Phase III, the cancer cells have already distribute outside the prostate gland. It may spread towards the nearby tissues even to the actual seminal vesicles, a gland that produces the actual semen. It does not reach faraway areas yet where other organs and lymph nodes are found. The actual PSA is already at any level and the Gleason score is ranging from 2 to 10.
Phase IV is the final stage. In this stage, cancer cells has spread not only to the actual seminal vesicles but to nearby internal organs like the bladder, rectum as well as the pelvic wall. Others even spread to lymph nodes and close by bones. The most common symptoms of most cancers already in Stage Intravenous is trouble with urinating, blood in urine, severe pain in the lower abdomen, weak point and nausea. By knowing the stage of your cancer, your doctor are now able to device a treatment plan suitable for your case. Additional details can be found through visiting http://www.ProstateCancerStages.net.