Prostate cancer pathological staging development

Clarifying the staging of prostate cancer helps to understand the scope of the lesion, determine the prognosis and formulate a treatment plan. For patients in stages A and B, since the lesions are basically confined to the prostate, radical prostatectomy can be performed as soon as possible. Let's take a detailed look at the introduction to its staging.

(1) Stage A disease: Stage A lesions are completely confined to the prostate, are very small, have no symptoms, and are only discovered accidentally during physical examination. There is no local or distant spread, and it is difficult to detect clinically. The diagnosis can only be made by pathology through autopsy, prostate hyperplasia removal specimens, or biopsy specimens. The lesions are localized and the cells are well differentiated. They grow relatively slowly. No nodules can be touched during rectal examination, and there are no clinical metastatic lesions. Prospective and retrospective studies have shown that the prognosis of stage A is generally very good, and most patients do not progress to clinical cancer or occult cancer during their lifetime.

(2) Stage B lesions: Stage B lesions are confined to the prostate capsule. The tumor is slightly larger but has not yet broken through the prostate capsule. Most of them are single nodules of the prostate found during rectal examination. There are no signs of distant metastasis. The diagnosis must be confirmed through histological examination of prostate puncture biopsy. Stage B is a relatively short period in the development of prostate cancer, so fewer cases are found clinically, accounting for about 11% of prostate cancer.

(3) Stage C disease: The lesion extends beyond the prostate capsule and may invade adjacent tissues and organs such as the seminal vesicle and bladder neck, but there is no evidence of distant metastasis. If stage C prostate cancer is not treated, approximately 60% of patients will have their disease worsen within 5 years, half will have metastasis within 10 years, and 75% will die from prostate cancer.

(4) Stage D disease: The disease extends beyond the prostate gland and has distant metastases, including distant bones, lungs, liver, and adrenal glands. Stage D patients have a poor prognosis, and most die from distant cancer metastases within three years of diagnosis.