Once prostate cancer has been diagnosed, further testing is done to determine if spread has occurred. The majority of men do not require these additional investigations if no other symptoms are present. Treatment of the prostate cancer is then based on the needle biopsy results.
Test to determine spread of cancer are all radiological and may include a bone scan, Ultrasound, CT or MRI. Sometimes biopsy of the lymph nodes in the pelvis is required to determine if they are cancerous.
Grading
Whenever a cancer is diagnosed, the next step is to define the grade-which allows one to determine it aggressiveness. The degree of aggressiveness can be evaluated by looking at the degree of differentiation of the prostate cells.
The degree of differentiation is then graded. With prostate cancer, a grading scale known as the Gleason score is used to define the degree of differentiation. The Gleason grading scale runs from 1 to 5, with 1 being the least aggressive form of cancer.
The Gleason scores may be helpful in determining which is the best treatment option. Once grading of the cancer has been completed, the next step is to define the stage of the cancer. This basically determines if the cancer has spread and how far the spread has occurred.
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