Stage Information

Stages of cancer of the prostate

Once cancer of the prostate has been found (diagnosed), more tests will be done to find out if cancer cells have spread from the prostate to tissues around it or to other parts of the body. This is called "staging." To plan treatment, a doctor needs to know the stage of the disease. The following stages are used for cancer of the prostate:

Stage I (A)
Prostate cancer at this stage cannot be felt and causes no symptoms. The cancer is only in the prostate and usually is found accidentally when surgery is done for other reasons, such as for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Cancer cells may be found in only one area of the prostate or they may be found in many areas of the prostate.

Stage II (B)
The tumor may be found by a needle biopsy that is done because a blood test (called a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test) showed an elevated PSA level or it may be felt in the prostate during a rectal examination, even though the cancer cells are found only in the prostate gland.

Stage III (C)
Cancer cells have spread outside the covering (capsule) of the prostate to tissues around the prostate. The glands that produce semen (the seminal vesicles) may have cancer in them.

Stage IV (D)
Cancer cells have spread (metastasized) to lymph nodes (near or far from the prostate) or to organs and tissues far away from the prostate such as the bone, liver, or lungs.

Recurrent
Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the prostate or in another part of the body.

Prostate staging can also be described by using T (tumor size), N (extent of spread to lymph nodes), and M (extent of spread to other parts of the body).