Prognosis And Survival For Prostate Cancer
If you have prostate cancer, you may have questions about your prognosis. A prognosis is the doctors best estimate of how cancer will affect someone and how it will respond to treatment. Prognosis and survival depend on many factors. Only a doctor familiar with your medical history, the type and stage and other features of the cancer, the treatments chosen and the response to treatment can put all of this information together with survival statistics to arrive at a prognosis.
A prognostic factor is an aspect of the cancer or a characteristic of the person that the doctor will consider when making a prognosis. A predictive factor influences how a cancer will respond to a certain treatment. Prognostic and predictive factors are often discussed together. They both play a part in deciding on a treatment plan and a prognosis.
The following are prognostic and predictive factors for prostate cancer.
Life Expectancy And Survival Rates
Generally speaking, the earlier prostate cancer is detected, the more likely treatment will be successful. Once the cancer has begun to spread outside the prostate, treatment is likely to shift away from attempts to cure the disease and toward methods to help reduce the rate of spread, lengthen life and keep the symptoms under control, according to UCLA Health.
Unlike most prostate cancer diagnoses, for which the five-year survival rate is nearly 100 percent, the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer in the advanced stages may be less, depending on where the cancer has metastasized to. For instance, with regional metastasis , the five year survival rate is nearly 100 percent, but distant metastasis , has a five-year survival rate of just 30 percent, according to the National Cancer Institutes Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database.
The stage of the disease at diagnosis is a better predictor of survival than age is. Studies of age as a predictor of survivability have been inconsistent. An analysis of data, published in the journal Urology in December 2014, noted that some research has shown higher rates of survival among younger patients while other research has indicated that younger men typically develop prostate cancer that is aggressive, advanced and quickly fatal.
What Are Prostate Cancer Survival Rates By Stage
Staging evaluation is essential for the planning of treatment for prostate cancer.
- A basic staging evaluation includes the patient examination, blood tests, and the prostate biopsy including ultrasound images of the prostate.
- Further testing and calculations may be performed to best estimate a patientâs prognosis and help the doctor and patient decide upon treatment options.
Prognosis refers to the likelihood that the cancer can be cured by treatment, and what the patientâs life expectancy is likely to be as a consequence of having had a prostate cancer diagnosis.
If a cancer is cured, your life expectancy is what it would have been had you never been diagnosed with prostate cancer. If the cancer cannot be cured due to it recurring in distant locations as metastases, or recurs either locally or in an area no longer able to be treated in a curative manner, then estimates can be made of what is likely to be your survival based again on group statistics for people who have been in the same situation.
Nomograms are charts or computer-based tools that use complex math from analysis of many patientsâ treatment results.
The prognosis for prostate cancer varies widely, and depends on many factors, including the age and health of the patient, the stage of the tumor when it was diagnosed, the aggressiveness of the tumor, and the cancerâs responsiveness to treatment, among other factors.
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What Is The Life Expectancy Of Someone With Stage 4 Prostate Cancer Topic Guide
How Long Can A Person Live With Prostate Cancer
Prostate Cancer is one of the most common types of cancer that occurs in males. This cancer develops in the prostate gland which is a small gland surrounded by the bladder and the urethra which forms a part of the reproductive system. The function of the prostate gland is to transport seminal fluid to the penis at the time of ejaculation after a sexual intercourse.
Normally, prostate cancer grows very slowly and the symptoms caused by it are hardly noticeable. Such types of cancers require minimal if any treatment. However, there are some types of prostate cancers that are aggressive and spread to surrounding structures within no time and require much more intense treatment.
It is essential for an individual to get screened for prostate abnormalities once crossing the age of 50 as this is the time when most of the cases of prostate cancers are reported. Early detection of this condition gives the individual much better chance of recovering from Prostate Cancer as well as improving the survival rate.
However, if an individual has a confirmed diagnosis of prostate cancer then the survival rate is something that is discussed quite often. This article is an attempt to address this issue.
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Proactive Steps You Can Take
Diet and Exercise
According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a few minor changes to eating habits can be helpful for those dealing with the effects of prostate cancer. The organization recommends incorporating vegetables into many of your meals and minimizing fat intake from red meat and dairy products. The group also recommends getting vitamins from food sources like whole grains and vegetables as opposed to vitamin supplements. It is particularly important to get calcium from food sources, namely dark green leafy vegetables and low-fat dairy foods.
Coping and support
If you or a loved one has prostate cancer, it’s important to remember that you are not alone: More than 150,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Still, it is normal for men diagnosed with prostate cancer to feel alone, uncertain or fearful. Support groups are an excellent resource for men with prostate cancer, providing a community with whom to share encouragement, information and emotional support. These groups range from online communities with people who can help answer questions to groups of men diagnosed with prostate cancer or family members of those diagnosed. They are sometimes facilitated by mental health professionals and experts in the field of prostate cancer.
Palliative care
Palliative care can include any of the following:
What Is Intermittent Adt
Researchers have investigated whether a technique called intermittent androgen deprivation can delay the development of hormone resistance. With intermittent androgen deprivation, hormone therapy is given in cycles with breaks between drug administrations, rather than continuously. An additional potential benefit of this approach is that the temporary break from the side effects of hormone therapy may improve a mans quality of life.
Randomized clinical trials have shown similar overall survival with continuous ADT or intermittent ADT among men with metastatic or recurrent prostate cancer, with a reduction in some side effects for intermittent ADT .
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Stage 3 Prostate Cancer
In stage 3, cancer has now spread beyond the prostate and may have potentially spread into the nearby seminal vesicles.
- Stage IIIA The tumor may involve both lobes of the prostate or less than that . There is no regional lymph node metastasis and no distant metastasis. . The PSA level is below or equal to 20 ng/ml. The Grade Group is 1-4.
- Stage IIIB The tumor extended through the prostatic capsule to the seminal vesicles or the adjacent structures, such as the bladder, muscles or the pelvic floor . There is no regional lymph node metastasis and no distant metastasis. . There can be any PSA level. The Grade Group is 1-4.
- Stage IIIC The tumor may or may not be extended through the prostatic capsule but has not spread to the regional lymph nodes or to other distant areas . There can be any PSA level. The Grade Group is 5.
Types Of Cancers That Are More Likely To Go Undetected
Some cancers are more easily detected than others. For example, certain types of skin cancer can be diagnosed initially just by visual inspection though a biopsy is necessary to confirm the diagnosis.
But other cancers can form and grow undetected for 10 years or more, as one study found, making diagnosis and treatment that much more difficult.
This table provides an overview of common cancers that often display little or no symptoms early on, and how theyre typically detected and diagnosed:
| Type of cancer |
|---|
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Life Expectancy Of Stage 4 Liver Cancer
Life Expectancy of Stage 4 Liver Cancer is not very impressing at all. The stage is concerned as one of the most critical Liver Cancer. The impact of the Liver Cancer Stage 4 is very bad, and the condition gets worse with time. On average patient may survive for 6 months. However, if the complexity of Liver is less then, people may survive for even couple of years. However, the life expectancy of Stage 4 depends upon the condition of the people.
Stage 4 Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials
Clinical trials provide cancer patients with life-extending and curative new medicines. Clinical drug trials are critical in getting new medicines to patients who need them the most, as well as securing data so that regulatory clearances may be secured, and new drugs can enter broad clinical practice. Patients who take part in clinical trials benefit both treatment science and their fellow patients.
There are currently 100 Phase III drug trials and more than 500 Phase I/II trials related to prostate cancer treatment in progress in the United States alone. Those that are approved will join the 12 new drugs that have been approved for men with advanced/metastatic disease since 2010 and further improve outcomes for patients:
Using our AI-powered approach, Massive Bio leads patients through the most extensive clinical trial matching process available.
We can assist you if you have been diagnosed with any of the following prostate cancer subtypes:
- Adenocarcinoma
- Transitional Cell Carcinoma
- Small Cell Carcinoma
If you do not know which type of prostate cancer you have, that is okay. Additional testing can help you determine your exact diagnosis.
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How Would I Treat Stage 4 Prostate Cancer
- I would stop all the foods that cause cancer, and stop using all the household and bodycare products that leach toxins into the body.
- I would change to those foods that resonate with my body through personal testing as I describe in my book.
- I would only eat fresh organic foods, grains, nuts and seeds properly prepared and soaked to reduce the phytic acid cooked nourishing broths and meats from grass-fed and pastured animals and eat raw, unpasteurized dairy and eggs which have a completely different profile than conventional cancer-causing, factory-farmed and produced foods which are loaded with toxins.
- I would stop all harmful foods listed on this site and in my book. For end stage prostate cancer, I would stop all sugar and its substitutes. Why? They feed the cancer.
- I would undergo cleansing short fasts with freshly made vegetable juices if personally tested “Yes.” I would do a liver flush, or many, to rid the body of major toxins quickly and easily.
- I would ensure that if couldn’t get adequate sun on my skin, I would at least take an adequate dosage of Vitamin D3 levels.
- I would take aloe vera juice each day and test for which supplements my body needed like zinc and magnesium.
And more…
End stage prostate cancer could then no longer find a host in my body for I would have changed the conditions that I either knowingly or unknowingly created that led to it.
What Is Stage 4 Prostate Cancer
The fourth stage of prostate cancerdefines a tumor that has progressed to other regions of the body, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, liver, bones, or bladder. The 5-year survival rate for these tumors is 29 percent.
Keep in mind that each case is unique, and figures like these are merely suggestions. As advances in prostate cancer treatment become more common, your odds of surviving this disease improve.
In general, prostate cancer has a very good survival rate one of the greatest of any cancer type. Because prostate cancer is frequently a slow-moving disease, the majority of men diagnosed with it will die from an unrelated reason.
Stage 4 prostate cancer means the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or to other parts of the body. It is further divided into two substages:
- Prostate Cancer Stage 4A Stage 4A: The cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes but may or may not have spread to nearby tissues.
- Prostate Cancer Stage 4B Stage 4B: The cancer has spread to another area of the body, such as the bones or distant lymph nodes.
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How To Make The Right Treatment Decision
Current expert guidelines for treatment of localized prostate carcinoma recommend potentially curative therapy for patients whose life expectancy is at least 10 years., Patients with limited life expectancy are more likely to die from health conditions other than prostate cancer. Men with a life expectancy of more than 10 years are more likely to die from progressive prostate cancer. This 10-year rule enjoys broad acceptance among urologists and radiation oncologists.,
Conservative management proved to be an acceptable treatment option for men with low-grade Gleason scores, clinically localized disease, and life expectancies of less than 10 years. Increasing age was described as a risk factor for receiving inadequate treatment for prostate cancer. Thus, older men have been shown to receive potentially curative therapy less often than younger men., Radical prostatectomy is preferred treatment in men younger than 70 years, whereas radiation therapy is applied predominantly in patients older than 70 years. Conservative therapy such as watchful waiting or androgen deprivation by luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogs is preferentially applied in men older than 80 years. Watchful waiting or hormonal therapy is used to treat 82% of men older than 80 years.
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What Is Advanced Prostate Cancer
When prostate cancer spreads beyond the prostate or returns after treatment, it is often called advanced prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is often grouped into four stages, with stages III and IV being more advanced prostate cancer.
- Early Stage | Stages I & II: The tumor has not spread beyond the prostate.
- Locally Advanced | Stage III: Cancer has spread outside the prostate but only to nearby tissues.
- Advanced | Stage IV: Cancer has spread outside the prostate to other parts such as the lymph nodes, bones, liver or lungs.
When an early stage prostate cancer is found, it may be treated or placed on surveillance . Advanced prostate cancer is not curable, but there are many ways to treat it. Treatment can help slow advanced prostate cancer progression.
There are several types of advanced prostate cancer, including:
Biochemical Recurrence
With biochemical recurrence, the prostate-specific antigen level has risen after treatment using surgery or radiation, with no other sign of cancer.
Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Non-Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormone treatment and is only found in the prostate. This is found by a rise in the PSA level, while the testosterone level stays low. Imaging tests do not show signs the cancer has spread.
Metastatic Prostate Cancer
- Lymph nodes outside the pelvis
- Bones
- Other organs, such as liver or lungs
Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer
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Where Do These Numbers Come From
The American Cancer Society relies on information from the SEER database, maintained by the National Cancer Institute , to provide survival statistics for different types of cancer.
The SEER database tracks 5-year relative survival rates for prostate cancer in the United States, based on how far the cancer has spread. The SEER database, however, does not group cancers by AJCC TNM stages . Instead it groups cancers into localized, regional, and distant stages.
- Localized: There is no sign that the cancer has spread outside the prostate.
- Regional: The cancer has spread outside the prostate to nearby structures or lymph nodes.
- Distant: The cancer has spread to parts of the body farther from the prostate, such as the lungs, liver, or bones.
The Tnm System For Prostate Cancer Stages
As they do for most cancers, doctors use the TNM system to describe prostate cancer stages. The system uses three different aspects of tumor growth and spread:
- Tumor. Whatâs the size of the main area of prostate cancer?
- Nodes. Has it spread to any lymph nodes? If so, how far and how many?
- Metastasis. How far has the prostate cancer spread?
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Stage 4 Prostate Cancer: Survival Rates Treatment And Support
Prostate cancer is in stage 4 when the cancer spreads beyond the lymph nodes and into other areas of the body. While the vast majority of prostate cancer cases are caught before this happens, when the cancer is treatable, stage 4 is far more difficult to treat. Therefore, the survival rate among men with stage 4 prostate cancer is much lower.
There are two types of stage 4 prostate cancer: 4A and 4B, according to the American Cancer Society. The type assigned to a persons diagnosis is based on whether the cancer has spread and to what degree, and the value assigned to two additional factors called the Grade Group and the prostate-specific antigen . The Grade Group is a measure of how likely the cancer is to spread quickly, and the PSA is a measure of a protein in the blood produced by cells in the prostate.
With stage 4A, the tumor has already spread into the lymph nodes and may be spreading into tissues adjacent to the prostate, but has not spread to other areas of the body. The Grade Group can be of any value, as can the PSA.
With stage 4B, the tumor may have spread into the lymph nodes, may be spreading into nearby tissues and has spread to other areas of the body like the bones, certain organs and distant lymph nodes. The Grade Group and PSA can be of any value.