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Levels of Prostate Cancer

When cancer is diagnosed, a process called staging identifies the extent and spread of the disease to help determine the course of treatment and the prognosis. Prostate cancer has levels from Stages I (one) through IV (four).

  1. Stage I

    • Stage I is the earliest level of prostate cancer. At this point the cancer is contained in the prostate, and it cannot be felt during a rectal exam or seen on a sonogram, according to the National Cancer Institute. It is generally found during surgery for an unrelated condition.

    Stage II

    • In this stage the prostate cancer is more advanced than in Stage I, but it has not spread past the prostate (cancer.gov). It might be felt during a rectal exam or seen on a sonogram.

    Stage III

    • In Stage III the cancer has spread past the prostate, and iit might be in the seminal vesicles, the glands that help produce semen (cancer.gov; cancer.org). The cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes at this stage (cancer.org).

    Stage IV

    • According to the American Cancer Society, Stage IV prostate cancer means the cancer has spread to a distant part of the body, the lymph nodes, or tissues next to the prostate besides the seminal vesicles.

    Prognosis

    • For local or regional disease, which includes Stages I through III, five-year survival rates are approximately 100 percent. For distant disease, which is Stage IV, the five-year survival rate is approximately 31 percent (cancer.org).

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