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How Fast Does Gleason 7 Prostate Cancer Grow

How Active Surveillance Works

What Does Gleason 7 Mean? | Ask A Prostate Expert, Mark Scholz, MD

The Gleason score is just one way that doctors monitor prostate cancer during active surveillance. They also do periodic follow-up biopsies and measure PSA levels, which may rise if cancer starts to spread in the prostate. Doctors may recommend treatment sooner if PSA begins to rise quickly or if a follow up biopsy reveals a higher Gleason score or more widespread cancer within the prostate. Its an inexact science that depends on a doctors skill and experience and a mans willingness to wait for signs that a cancer poses a clear threat before opting for treatment and its potential for side effects.

Penney says she and her Harvard colleagues are among the many scientists now searching for better ways to predict which prostate cancers are likely to be lethal and which can be monitored and not treated. The answer may be found in genetic changes in prostate cancer cells that signal a higher threat. But finding a better way to predict which prostate cancers are likely to turn lethal is far from guaranteed.

Some believe its not possible, Penney says. After the cancer is diagnosed, so many things can change in unknown ways. Diet, exercise, and other lifestyle factors, for example, could affect whether low-risk prostate cancers become more aggressive or threatening over time.

About the Author

Where Can I Get Support

Being diagnosed with any kind of prostate cancer can be frightening and overwhelming. If you are told you have a rare prostate cancer you may worry about what this means and feel frustrated that there isnt much information available about your diagnosis and treatment.

No matter what youre feeling or thinking, there is support available if you want it. You can speak to our Specialist Nurses, in confidence or chat with them online. Our Dealing with prostate cancer page looks at things you can do to help yourself and people who can help.

Visit our wellbeing hub for information to help support you in looking after your emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing. If you are close to someone with prostate cancer, find out more about how you can support someone with prostate cancer and where to get more information.

Is Active Surveillance Right For Some Intermediate

Though metastasis is a major problem when it occurs, Dr. Klotz emphasizes that roughly 80% of the intermediate-risk men in the study have so far avoided that outcome. And these men, he said, are also avoiding cancer treatments that would otherwise have a significant effect on their quality of life. Still, Dr. Klotz urges caution when selecting intermediate-risk men for active surveillance. Based on these findings, I would strongly encourage that these men be further evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging and/or genetic biomarkers, he said.

These longer-term data shed new light on the ultimate outcomes of men considered for active surveillance who had components of higher-grade cancer when they were initially diagnosed, or who were found to have it on subsequent biopsies while on active surveillance, said Dr. Marc Garnick, the Gorman Brothers Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and editor in chief of HarvardProstateKnowledge.org. Many variables factor into whether active surveillance should be considered for intermediate-risk men. Dr. Klotz highlights MRI and biomarkers, but medical diagnoses, family history, and the patients emotional capacity to address a higher likelihood of metastases should all be considered.

About the Author

Charlie Schmidt, Editor, Harvard Medical School Annual Report on Prostate Diseases

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How Important Is The Gleason Score

The Gleason score is very important in predicting the behavior of a prostate cancer and determining the best treatment options. Still, other factors are also important, such as:

  • The blood PSA level
  • How much of each core is made up of cancer
  • The number of cores that contain cancer
  • Whether cancer was found in both sides of the prostate
  • Whether the cancer has spread outside the prostate

An Integrative Approach To Prostate Cancer

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What Does It Mean If My Biopsy Report Mentions The Word Core

The most common type of prostate biopsy is a core needle biopsy. For this procedure, the doctor inserts a thin, hollow needle into the prostate gland. When the needle is pulled out it removes a small cylinder of prostate tissue called a core. This is often repeated several times to sample different areas of the prostate.

Your pathology report will list each core separately by a number assigned to it by the pathologist, with each core having its own diagnosis. If cancer or some other problem is found, it is often not in every core, so you need to look at the diagnoses for all of the cores to know what is going on with you.

Treatment Options Under Clinical Evaluation

Treatment options under clinical evaluation for patients with prostate cancer include the following:

Cryosurgery

Cryosurgery, or cryotherapy, is under evaluation for the treatment of localized prostate cancer. It is a surgical technique that involves destruction of prostate cancer cells by intermittent freezing of the prostate with cryoprobes, followed by thawing. There is limited evidence regarding its efficacy and safety compared with standard prostatectomy and radiation therapy, and the technique is evolving in an attempt to reduce local toxicity and normal tissue damage. The quality of evidence on efficacy is low, currently limited to case series of relatively small size, short follow-up, and surrogate outcomes of efficacy.

Serious toxic effects associated with cryosurgery include bladder outlet injury, urinary incontinence, sexual impotence, and rectal injury. Impotence is common, ranging from about 47% to 100%.

The frequency of other side effects and the probability of cancer control at 5 years follow-up have varied among reporting centers, and series are small compared with surgery and radiation therapy. Other major complications include urethral sloughing, urinary fistula or stricture, and bladder neck obstruction.

Proton-beam therapy

Vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy using a photosensitizing agent has been tested in men with low-risk prostate cancer.

Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy

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Understanding Prostate Cancers Progression

To determine the appropriate treatment, doctors need to know how far the cancer has progressed, or its stage. A pathologist, the doctor trained in analyzing cells taken during a prostate biopsy, will provide two starting pointsthe cancers grade and Gleason score.

  • Cancer grade: When the pathologist looks at prostate cancer cells, the most common type of cells will get a grade of 3 to 5. The area of cancer cells in the prostate will also be graded. The higher the grade, the more abnormal the cells.
  • Gleason score: The two grades will be added together to get a Gleason score. This score tells doctors how likely the cancer is to grow and spread.

After a biopsy confirms prostate cancer, the patient may undergo additional tests to see whether it has spread through the blood or lymph nodes to other parts of the body. These tests are usually imaging studies and may include a bone scan, positron emission tomography scan or computed tomography scan.

Which Prostate Cancers Really Need Treatment

Does Sugar Feed Prostate Cancer? Does Fatty/Adipose Tissue Attract Cancer? | Mark Moyad, MD, MPH

July 9, 2013 by Bert Vorstman

> some 75% of all prostate cancers diagnosed are classed as favorable-risk Gleason 6 > GENERALLY, MOST of these favorable-risk Gleason 6 stage T1c prostate cancers need NO treatment whether through focal therapy or whole gland treatment> GENERALLY, MOST favorable-risk Gleason 6 cancers do NOT PROGRESS while being monitored on ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE> 25% or less of prostate cancers detected are the high-risk significant prostate cancers and it is these cancers which demand treatment> NOT ALL PROSTATE CANCERS ARE EQUAL> more people die from drug resistant infections every year than from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined> the importance of prostate cancer is greatly overemphasized> the preoccupation with PSA prostate cancer screening and detection, particularly for the insignificant Gleason 6 prostate cancer, is disingenuous

THEREFORE, on both MOLECULAR and CLINICAL fronts, it is ABUNDANTLY CLEAR thatthe Gleason 6 prostate cancer is essentially,> INSIGNIFICANT> a MISNOMER and should NOT be called a cancer> grossly MISMANAGED and MISTREATED as if a significant high-risk cancer

Which prostate cancers really need treatment?> only some 25% of prostate cancers diagnosed are classified as high-risk> significant or high-risk prostate cancers needing treatment are: * men with Gleason 4+3, 4+4 and above * men with significant volume of 4s in a Gleason 3+4

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Can The Gleason Score On My Biopsy Really Tell What The Cancer Grade Is In The Entire Prostate

Because prostate biopsies are tissue samples from different areas of the prostate, the Gleason score on biopsy usually reflects your cancers true grade. However, in about 1 out of 5 cases the biopsy grade is lower than the true grade because the biopsy misses a higher grade area of the cancer. It can work the other way, too, with the true grade of the tumor being lower than what is seen on the biopsy.

How Prostate Cancer Develops

However, sometimes something goes wrong within prostate cells, and cancer develops.

In general, cancer is a condition in which a normal cell becomes abnormal and starts to grow and/or reproduce uncontrollably without having the signals or brakes that stop typical cell growth. Prostate cancer occurs when a normal prostate cell begins to grow out of control. In many cases, prostate cancer is a slow-growing cancer that does not spread beyond the prostate gland before the time of diagnosis.

Once prostate cancer forms, it feeds on androgens and uses them as fuel for growth. This is why one of the backbones of treatment for men, especially with advanced prostate cancer, is to lower a mans androgen levels with drugs collectively termed hormone therapy.

Not all prostate cancer cells are alike. Prostate cancers that are composed of very abnormal cells are much more likely to both divide quickly and spread, or metastasize, from the prostate to other regions of the body. Often, prostate cancer spreads first to tissues that are near the prostate, including the seminal vesicles and nearby lymph nodes.

Researchers have identified various biological and genetic subtypes of prostate cancer. Although these subtypes are typically not yet used to guide treatment recommendations, they are the subject of active research funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Help support PCFs research into causes and treatments of prostate cancer: Donate Today!

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Gleason Score 7 Life Expectancy

Gleason Score 7 Life Expectancy. Cancer symptoms gleason score 7 life expectancy. 7 percentage of positive biopsies less than 34%.

In this population based cohort we determined prostate cancer outcomes at different gleason scores, particularly the different gleason 7 patterns. Patients with a given gleason score and a projected life expectancy of at least 10 years may be at similar risk of dying from prostate cancer as younger patients. Men 40 to 64 years old who were diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1993 and 1996 in king county, washington comprised the cohort.

Source: bradyurology.blogspot.com

Your gleason score sets you at the intermediate risk group of patients. This grades the cancer between 1 and 5 based on your gleason score.

Source: www.slideshare.net

It is also important to know that prostate cancer appearing at a younger age can prove to be more aggressive. A gleason grade is based on a pathological pattern of the glandular cells of the organ.

Source: read.nxtbook.com

Healthtap doctors are based in the u.s., board certified, and available by text or video. According to funnel plots and eggers tests (shown in fig.

Source: jnccn.org

Median gleason score was 7 (range: The cancer is likely to grow at a moderate rate:

Source: robertdickinson.ca

According to funnel plots and eggers tests (shown in fig. A gleason score 4+3=7 tumor is more likely to grow and spread than a 3+4=7 tumor, yet not as likely as a gleason score 8 tumor.

Source: robertdickinson.ca

A Roundtable Discussion With Brian F Chapin Md Jonathan I Epstein Md And Maha Hussain Md Facp Fasco

Grade or Gleason Score and Prostate Cancer

Physician-Patient Communication Oncologist counsels patient about options for treatment of prostate cancer. Photo courtesy of Thinkstock.

Prior to ASCOs 2016 endorsement of the Cancer Care Ontario guideline on active surveillance in the management of localized prostate cancer,1 most menover 90%diagnosed with low-risk localized disease were treated with active therapy.2 Today, about 50% of American men with low-risk disease opt for active surveillance instead of therapy. In Sweden, nearly 80% of men with low-risk prostate cancer undergo surveillance rather than treatment.3

This year, approximately 165,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer,4 and half of those men will have low-risk tumors that pathologists rate as Gleason 6 disease. Changes to the Gleason score grading system in 2014 by the International Society of Urological Pathology classified Gleason 6 as grade 1, putting the cancer in the very lowrisk category.

Strong evidence suggests that Gleason 6 disease, when not associated with higher-grade cancer, almost never develops into aggressive cancer requiring treatment. Thus, many patients with Gleason 6 cancer are able to sidestep therapy, such as surgery and radiation therapy, and its attendant side effects, including sexual, urinary, and bowel dysfunction, for active surveillance, which is increasingly being adopted as the standard of care for men with a Gleason 6 score.

Defining Gleason 6 Cancer

Managing Localized Prostate Cancer

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Screening Information For Prostate Cancer

Screening for prostate cancer is done to find evidence of cancer in otherwise healthy adults. Two tests are commonly used to screen for prostate cancer:

Digital rectal examination

A DRE is a test in which the doctor inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into the rectum and feels the surface of the prostate through the bowel wall for any irregularities.

PSA blood test

There is controversy about using the PSA test to look for prostate cancer in people with no symptoms of the disease. On the one hand, the PSA test is useful for detecting early-stage prostate cancer, especially in those with many risk factors, which helps some get the treatment they need before the cancer grows and spreads. On the other hand, PSA screening may find very-slow-growing prostate cancers that would never threaten someone’s life. As a result, screening for prostate cancer using PSA may lead to treatments that are not needed, which can cause side effects and seriously affect a person’s quality of life.

ASCO recommends that people with no symptoms of prostate cancer and who are expected to live less than 10 years do not receive PSA screening. For those expected to live longer than 10 years, ASCO recommends that they talk with their doctor to find out if the test is appropriate for them.

Other organizations have different recommendations for screening:

How Fast And Where Does Prostate Cancer Spread

Like other cancers, prostate cancer can spread from the site of where it first started to other sites of the body. Once it spreads, the disease may still respond to the treatment, but typically it is now no longer to be cured. Bones, liver, and lungs are the most common sites for prostate cancer metastasis. How do you know that it has spread? And how fast this metastasis?

Since the early detection of the disease is very crucial for the prognosis and outlook of patients , its very important to diagnose the disease as early as possible.

In the U.S, the number of men diagnosed with the disease at later stages decreases drastically due to the implementation of PSA screening test .

Men with many risk factors of prostate cancer should start discussing the test with their doctor earlier. Visit this section for more information about this!

The PSA test is also recommended in other countries . However whether this test is necessary for all men is debatable.

For those who eventually dont have prostate cancer in their life, the choice to take the test may put them at high risk of getting over-diagnosis, making anxiety more likely.

Therefore, some experts agree that the screening prostate cancer test is more recommended for those who have some /many risk factors of the disease. For more advice, consult more with your GP!

How prostate cancer is diagnosed?

PSA screening test
Rectal examinations
Biopsy procedure
IVU or IVP Intravenous urogram
Imaging tests

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Physical Emotional And Social Effects Of Cancer

Cancer and its treatment cause physical symptoms and side effects, as well as emotional, social, and financial effects. Managing all of these effects is called palliative care or supportive care. It is an important part of your care that is included along with treatments intended to slow, stop, or eliminate the cancer.

Palliative care focuses on improving how you feel during treatment by managing symptoms and supporting patients and their families with other, non-medical needs. Any person, regardless of age or type and stage of cancer, may receive this type of care. And it often works best when it is started right after a cancer diagnosis. People who receive palliative care along with treatment for the cancer often have less severe symptoms, better quality of life, and report that they are more satisfied with treatment.

Palliative treatments vary widely and often include medication, nutritional changes, relaxation techniques, emotional and spiritual support, and other therapies. You may also receive palliative treatments similar to those meant to get rid of the cancer, such as chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation therapy.

Before treatment begins, talk with your doctor about the goals of each treatment in the treatment plan. You should also talk about the possible side effects of the specific treatment plan and palliative care options.

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