According to the TNM and Whitmore-Jewett staging systems, the last stage of prostate cancer is stage IV or D. Cancer is an abnormal condition which occurs once the normal cells start to know an uncontrollable and rapid growth and an even faster death while the cancerous cells tend to multiply at a fast pace and outlive the normal ones. If the tumor is benign, the cancer will not develop but if the organ-confined tumor is malignant, it will soon enter the bloodstream and the lymph vessels and spread to other surrounding areas of the gland, growing other secondary, small tumors. If cancer is diagnosed the staging process is used to find out exactly how far advanced is the tumor and what treatment should be prescribed to stop it from becoming metastatic. If the cancer is metastasized the patient will experience some painful symptoms and if it is left untreated the cancer will eventually lead to death.
<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->
The common reported terminal symptoms indicate that the cancerous cells have reached the bone structures and far distanced organs and tissues such as the liver, the lungs, the spinal cord, the pelvis, the ribs or the vertebrae: respiratory problems and chest pains, abdomen pains, pains while urinating, leg pains, muscle weakness and incontinence, the compression of the spine, impotence or other sex problems will soon appear. In stage IV or stage D the cancer is locally advanced or metastatic; this stage is divided into other substages, and as the name of TNM staging system goes, the doctor will determine exactly just how spread is the cancer by analyzing the stage of the tumor, the nodes and the metastatic stage.

In substage D0 the blood tests show that the cancer has spread in the entire body even though the imaging tests and screening examination indicate something different; in substage D1 the cancer is developing in the lymph nodes; in substage D2 the cancer has spread to the surrounding organs, especially the bones since metastatic cancer has a tendency to affect first the bone structures; and in the last substage meaning substage D3, the cancer is somewhat similar as in stage D2, without advancing any further. The treatments available for this end stage give some discouraging and less effective results because in this stage the cancer can not be cured. Surgery or prostatectomy is usually a less effective operation and has little worth in treating the advanced forms of cancer, probably because the cancerous cells had spread outside the prostate capsule and already reached the surrounding areas of the gland.

The other treatment therapy options used in the fighting against cancer, even in its final stages, are: the radiation therapy, damaging the DNA of the cancerous cells with an external beam radiation or implanted radioactive pellets left in the gland until they decay, cryotherapy done freezing the prostate, hormone therapy also known as androgen deprivation therapy or the popular name of chemical castration and chemotherapy. Prevention measures should be taken in consideration by men over forty and the screening tests and prostate biopsy should be routinely done because this is the common method to detect the cancer in its early stages and treat it. Also worth mentioning the fact that cancer can be cured if the patients respond well to the prescribed treatment and if the tumor is not too far advanced.

The staging process, used only after the prostate cancer is diagnosed, indicates just how far spread is the tumor in the organism. Cancer is defined as an abnormal condition when the normal cells know a rapid and uncontrollable growth while the cancerous cells tend to appear in great numbers and outlive the normal ones. If these malignant cells have reached and entered the bloodstream or the lymph vessels, the tumor will spread to other surrounding organs, giving birth to other small tumors when they reach that certain area of the internal body. The screening tests and the prostate biopsy will help doctors in diagnosing this type of cancer and prescribe the correct treatment. If cancer is discovered but the patient chooses not to treat it, it is very possible that this disease will eventually advance and become metastasized.
<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->
In fact, metastatic cancer develops only when the cancerous prostate cells are transported through the lymphatic system or bloodstream to other internal regions of the body where they grow other tumors; the tumor, in the first stage, is organ-confined and usually in this stage the patient doesn’t present any early symptoms; only after its spreading the cancer will become noticeable. According to the TNM staging system, the TNM abbreviation comes from tumor, nodes and metastatic, or the Whitmore-Jewett staging system, there are four stages into which the cancer can be categorized. Obviously, the last stage known as stage IV or D is the stage of the metastatic cancer. Usually patients respond well to treatments even in this end stage, but unfortunately there is no curing possibility because the tumor is just too advanced. Treatments will only help alleviate the pains and increase the life expectancies, but that is all. When the diseased person opts for a treatment such as surgery, the side effects can not be avoided.

For example, surgery or prostatectomy, is a procedure defined as the complete removal of the prostate gland. If the tumor is organ-confined the surgery may have some rather good results but if the tumor began its spreading, surgery will only increase the risk of dying and according to a survey, one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of local bleeding when this treatment procedure is done. The risk of death as a side effect is not related only to surgery. The androgen deprivation therapy or the hormone therapy can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases which could eventually lead to death. This treatment therapy is a rather new one so the side effects are still being studied by the medical community. As I’ve mentioned before the end stage is the fourth stage or stage D, but this stages are divided into other substages such as: substage D0, when the cancer began its spreading but the medical examinations or the imaging tests show otherwise; in substage D1 the cancer is in the lymph nodes; in substage D2 the tumor has spread to the bones and the surrounding organs of the prostate; in stage D3, if the patient follows the right treatment there is a possibility to stop the spreading of the cancer, maintaining it similar as in substage D2.

If the cancer is left untreated, the tumor would double its size once every four years while the patient will experience some painful symptoms such as: frequent urination or weak urine stream, you may find blood in the urine or the semen or feel burning or irritating pains while urinating, you may also experience a painful ejaculation, back pains, stiffness or ache; if it is metastatic, the cancer may cause bone pain, having the predilection to affect first the bone structures, it could also spread fast to the lungs and liver causing coughing, pain in the abdomen, yellow skin and chest pains. The prostate cancer can cause the compression of the spine, the results being muscle weakness, leg pains or incontinence, fecal or urinary or both. Metastatic cancer will affect the vertebrae, the pelvis, the ribs and the important internal organs and in the unfortunate case when the patient doesn’t respond well to the prescribed treatment this disease will eventually lead to death. Try to avoid as much as possible this terrible disease by always staying informed about it.

The cancer is metastasized only when the cancerous cells are being transported through the bloodstream and the lymphatic system to other internal regions of the body where they grow other tumors. Cancer is a term used in describing the abnormal condition when cancerous cells tend to appears and the normal ones are exposed to a rapid and uncontrollable growth. If the screening tests and the prostate biopsy confirm the existence of an organ confined or locally advanced tumor but it is left untreated there is a great possibility that this cancer will evolve becoming metastatic and eventually leading to a painful death. The cancerous cells tend to multiply abnormally and the cancer will eventually spread to the surrounding areas of the prostate as the rectum, lymph nodes in the groin area, bones or the seminal vesicle. There are no early symptoms to indicate the existence of the tumor inside the prostate gland, but when the cancer starts advancing symptoms tend to appear shortly afterward.<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->Metastatic cancer will affect the vertebrae, the pelvis and the ribs but it could also spread fast to the lungs the result being chest pains, coughing and yellow skin and pain in the abdomen if the liver is the affected organ. Even the spinal cord can be affected by the prostate cancer so the tumor can cause a spinal compression, resulting in weakness or urinary incontinence. Scores from seven to ten on the Gleason scale indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor. According to the TNM and the Whitmore-Jewett staging systems the last stage of the prostate cancer is IV or D.

In stage IV or stage D the cancer is metastasized and untreated it is spreading slowly to the bones, lungs, liver and the lymph nodes. According to the Whitmore-Jewett staging system, in stage D the cancer is far spread from the prostate: this is the stage of metastatic cancer. It is divided into substage D0 when the blood tests usually indicate that the cancer has spread in the entire body even though the imaging tests and examination show otherwise; in substage D1 the cancer is found in the lymph nodes; in substage D2 the cancer has spread to the bones and other surrounding organs; in substage D3, the cancer is similar as in stage D2, without advancing any further.



Treatments are available but unfortunately the results are less effective if the prostate cancer is metastatic. Surgery or prostatectomy is usually an operation of little worth for treating the advanced forms of cancer in the case when cancerous cells had already reached the surrounding areas of the gland. Other treatment therapies used in the fighting against cancer, even in its final stages, are: hormone therapy also known as androgen deprivation therapy, radiation therapy which damages the DNA of the cancerous cells with an external beam radiation or implanted radioactive seeds, cryotherapy, done by freezing the prostate and chemotherapy. Expectant management or the watchful waiting procedure is regarded as a therapeutic alternative only when doctors have already exhausted all options available in treating the cancer and it is done by monitoring the progressive evolution of the prostate cancer, prescribing only a strict nutritional diet as treatment. There is always the possibility of cancer recurrence so doctors have to adopt some extreme treatment measures to remove the existing tumor and sometimes the side-effects can not be avoided and you should be aware of this situation. Keep in mind that life is a precious thing and you have to constantly fight so that you may not lose it.

To all men over forty doctors usually recommend the screening tests because at this age the level of estrogen, the female hormone and that of the dihydrotestosterone increases: the result is the growth in size of the prostate organ, while the level of testosterone declines.
<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->
If the screening tests or the biopsy confirm any existence of a tumor confined in the organ or a locally advanced one and it is left untreated then it is a great possibility that this cancer will progressively evolve becoming metastatic and eventually leading to death.

The prostate cancer is a type of cancer affecting only the prostate gland and is described as an abnormal condition when the body cells experience an uncontrollable and fast growth while the cancerous cells tend to multiply; the spreading process is a rapid one, done by invading the neighboring tissues, the cancerous cells traveling through the lymph vessels or through the bloodstream to far away tissues so the tumor is categorized as organ-confined, locally advanced or, in the final stage, metastatic.




When the surrounding organs are affected , the coaxial tomography or the magnetic resonance imaging will show just how far advanced is the cancer in these areas; radionuclide bone scans can confirm if the tumor has spread to the bones.

A recent developed method of biopsy, the prostate mapping, combines the template-guided multiple biopsies with the multi-sequence magnetic resonance imaging scans, done under general anesthetic while taking thirty to fifty biopsies.

Unfortunately no early symptoms can indicate the existence of the cancerous cells in the prostate and when you start to feel strange that basically means that the tumor began its spreading in the surrounding areas of the gland. Here are some common symptoms: weak or frequent urine stream, burning while urinating, painful ejaculation, pain while urinating, back pains, stiffness, blood in urine or semen, ache or abdomen and bone pain, compression of the spine, leg weakness or incontinence.

In this case the TNM system or the Whitmore-Jewett staging system will indicate exactly just how far advanced is the cancer and what treatment should be recommended.



The end stage is a painful one because the cancer is normally metastasized and has spread to the bones, liver, lungs and the lymph nodes; the symptoms we often encounter in this late stage are chest pains or cough if the lungs are affected, yellow skin and unbearable pains in the abdomen if the malignant tumor has spread to the liver and it can also cause a compression of the spine, resulting in muscle weakness and incontinence. Metastatic cancer will affect the vertebrae, the pelvis and the ribs, and untreated it will eventually lead to death.

Even with a proper treatment we can’t say for certainty that the cancer will stop from spreading or it will be cured because in this late stage the treatment results are rather discouraging. Prevention measures should always be taken in consideration because you know the saying: it is better to prevent than to treat.

The staging process usually indicates how far spread is the cancer in the human body.

There are many types of cancers and to detect the prostate cancer doctors often use the screening tests and as a last resort the biopsy procedure.

<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->

If the patient is diagnosed with cancer, the Gleason scale is used to classify the stages of the cancer: scores from two to four indicate a slow growing tumor, scores from five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor, while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor.

The TNM staging system, which stands for tumor, nodes and metastatic, shows exactly how spread is the disease: stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV.

Obvious, the final stages are III and IV when the cancer becomes metastasized.

In stage III the tumor has barely spread to the surrounding areas of the prostate but in stage IV the cancer is metastasized and has spread to the bones, lungs, liver and the lymph nodes.

The Whitmore-Jewett staging is very similar to the TNM system and one of the few differences between them is the replacement of the roman numerals with Latin letters.

According to this staging system the final stages of the prostate cancer are C and D: in stage C, the tumor is in the surrounding area of the prostate but chances are that it also entered the seminal vesicles, in substage C1 the cancerous cells have spread through the capsule containing the prostate and in substage C2 the cancer began to block the urine flown from the ureters or the bladder outlet; in stage D, the cancer has spread far from the prostate gland and is known as the stage of metastatic cancer.

In substage D0 the blood tests indicate that the cancer has spread in the body even though the imaging tests and examination indicate otherwise; in substage D1 the cancer is found in the lymph nodes; in substage D2 the cancer has spread to the other organs surrounding the prostate and to the bones; in substage D3, by following the prescribed treatment, the cancer is similar as in stage D2, without further advancing.

In this advanced stage the cancer can cause chest pains and coughing if the lungs are affected but also give an appearance of yellow skin and unbearable pains in the abdomen if the malignant tumor has spread to the liver. If the spinal cord is affected, the tumor will cause a compression of the spine, resulting in muscle weakness or fecal and urinary incontinence.

The spreading process is done by invading the neighboring tissues, through the lymph vessels and lymph nodes or by traveling through the bloodstream to far away tissues so the tumor is either organ-confined or locally advanced, and in the worst case metastatic, but doctors strongly advise men over the age of forty to regularly do the screening tests for the early detection of the prostate cancer.

Treatments are made available but they will be less effective if the tumor is far advanced.

Untreated, this illness will eventually lead to a painful death so surely the best thing is to prevent this terrible situation for as much as possible.

The prostate is a gland with the size of a walnut, found only in the male reproductive system, storing and making the seminal fluid; its location is below the bladder, near the rectum and surrounding the urethra.

The prostate cancer is one type of cancer affecting the prostate gland and is described as the abnormal condition of the rapid and uncontrollable growth of the body cells and the apparition of the cancerous cells.

The spreading process is done by invading the neighboring tissues, through the lymph vessels and lymph nodes or by traveling through the bloodstream to far away tissues so the tumor is organ-confined, locally advanced or metastatic.

<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->



There are no early symptoms to indicate the existence of the tumor inside the prostate gland, but when the cancer starts advancing symptoms tend to appear shortly afterward: frequent urination or weak urine stream, burning or pain while urinating, blood in urine or semen, painful ejaculation, back pains, stiffness, ache, frequent bone pain, pain in the abdomen, compression of the spine resulting in leg weakness or incontinence.

The screening tests and the prostate biopsies are the medical procedures used for detecting the cancer in its early stages. In the unfortunate case when cancer is diagnosed the staging process will be the next step the doctors will make.

The TNM system or the Whitmore-Jewett staging system will be used to indicate exactly how far spread is the cancer and what treatment would be recommended in this case.

There are usually four stages. The last are obviously stage III or C and stage IV or D.

In stage III the tumor has barely spread to the surrounding areas of the prostate; the Whitmore-Jewett system divide stage C into substage C1 when the cancerous cells have spread through the capsule containing the prostate and  substage C2 when the cancer began to block the urine flown from the ureters or the bladder outlet.

In stage IV or stage D the cancer is metastasized and has spread to the bones, lungs, liver and the lymph nodes; the symptoms found in this late stage are chest pains and coughing if the lungs are affected, yellow skin and unbearable pains in the abdomen if the malignant tumor has spread to the liver and it will cause a compression of the spine, resulting in muscle weakness or fecal and urinary incontinence. Metastatic cancer will affect the vertebrae, the pelvis and the ribs, and untreated it will eventually lead to death.

It is unfortunate the fact that some treatments used in the fighting against the prostate cancer could cause death as side-effects. As an example, if prostatectomy is carried out there will always be a risk of local bleeding and as recent survey had shown, almost one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of the operation.

Hormone treatment significantly increased the risk of death for patients who opted for prostatectomy to treat the localized form of prostate cancer.

Of course, there is always the possibility of cancer recurrence so doctors have to adopt some extreme treatment procedures to eliminate the existing cancerous cells and sometimes the side-effects can not be avoided.

Doctors are aware about this so they will always give information about the treatment options in minute details. Value your life and make sure to prevent such a terrible disease by always staying informed about it.

The end stage of the prostate cancer is when the cancer is metastasized.

Usually after the prostate biopsy procedure it is reveled whether cancerous cells do or do not exist within the prostate gland. In the unfortunate case when cancer is discovered the immediate step would be classifying it according to how far advanced it is. This is called the staging process.

<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->

The Gleason scale is used to classify the stages of the cancer: scores from two to four indicate a slow growing tumor, scores from five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor, while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor; the staging process or the TNM system indicates how spread is the disease, and there are usually four stages: stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV. There is another staging system known under the name of Whitmore-Jewett staging, very similar to the TNM system, one obvious difference being the replacement of the roman numerals with Latin letters.

In stage IV or stage D the cancer is metastasized and has spread to the bones, lungs, liver and the lymph nodes. According to the Whitmore-Jewett staging system, in stage D the cancer has spread far from the prostate gland and is known as the stage of metastatic cancer. It is divided into substage D0 when the blood tests indicate that the cancer has spread in the body even though the imaging tests and examination show otherwise; in substage D1 the cancer is found in the lymph nodes; in substage D2 the cancer has spread to the other organs surrounding the prostate and to the bones; in substage D3, by following the prescribed treatment, the cancer is similar as in stage D2, without further advancing.

There aren’t any early symptoms to indicate the existence of a tumor or cancerous cells within the prostate organ so the screening tests are highly recommended by doctors, especially for men who have reached the age of forty or more.

If the existence of the tumor is confirmed but it is left untreated then the cancerous cells tend to multiply abnormally and the cancer will eventually spread to the surrounding areas of the prostate as the rectum, bones, lymph nodes in the groin area or the seminal vesicle; this is the stage known as the metastatic cancer, when the cancerous prostate cells are being transported through the bloodstream and the lymphatic system to other internal regions of the body where they grow other tumors.

In this end stage of prostate cancer aggressive symptoms tend to appear: frequent urination or weak urine stream, burning or pain while urinating, blood in urine or semen, painful ejaculation, back pains, stiffness, ache; in the its advanced forms the cancer may cause bone pain, it could also spread fast to the lungs and liver causing coughing and chest pains, yellow skin and pain in the abdomen. If the spinal cord is affected by the prostate cancer it can cause a compression of the spine, resulting in weakness or fecal and urinary incontinence.

Metastatic prostate cancer can be treated but to be honest the results are limited and those treatments can only stop the evolving of the cancer and increase the life expectancies.

The prostate cancer is a frightening disease, not only because of its dramatic consequences but also because is the second most common form of cancer affecting men from the entire world.

<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->

Doctors recommend to all men who had already reached the age of forty to regularly seek for a medical counseling and do the screening tests for an early detection of this disease, since it has no early symptoms.

Fortunately, things have changed since the 1850’s when the prostate cancer was officially recognized and treatments are getting better results with every year passing by.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, life expectancies were still low and the medical information about this disease was lacking, so death was not a rare sight among those who suffered because a prostate cancer.

We now know what may probably cause a prostate cancer, what symptoms describe it and how it is evolving in the organism. The staging process is very important because once the stage is correctly determined a proper treatment could be prescribed. So, even if the cancer is metastatic, there are some effective treatments available for it. Sure, it is better for an early detection of the prostate cancer and the screening tests are often recommended.

Usually the results of the treatments may vary according to how far spread is the cancer in the organism and this spreading process is done by invading the neighboring tissues, spreading through the lymph vessels and lymph nodes or by traveling through the bloodstream to far away tissues.

Death caused by this terrifying disease could be avoided but not the after-effects of the treatments.

For example, surgery, also known as prostatectomy, is the most frequently used method of conventional treatment, the operation being made on a certain part of the body usually removing the malignant tumor or infected tissue parts; the side effect of this operation could be devastating because there is always the risk of local bleeding and a survey has shown that one per cent among men with ages between sixty five and sixty nine die because of the operation.

Also the androgen deprivation therapy or hormone therapy increases the risk of a coronary artery disease, the result being death caused by a cardiovascular disorder.

Statistics have shown that the hormone treatment significantly increased the risk of death for patients who opted for prostatectomy to treat the localized form of prostate cancer but also that patients who chose this medical treatment procedure had an increased dying risk of about 85 per cent higher in comparison to those who didn’t receive any treatment at all.

These results are discouraging but every treatment has its side effects because for such a terrible disease as the cancer, which can always regenerate, radical treatments should be prescribed.

Death is not an option and could be avoided as long as the patient understands its situation and carefully listens for the doctor’s advices. In choosing a treatment the doctor will always pay attention to the personal preferences of the patient but the recommendations will come only after he ponders about the treatment possibilities available out there.

The prostate cancer is a disease affecting the prostate gland, and if left untreated it could eventually lead to death.

Since this disease has no early symptoms, a proper diagnose is necessary and the screening tests are recommended to be done on a regular basis by all men who had reached the age of forty or more.

The prostate biopsy is performed only in case the screening tests had shown an abnormal result. If cancer is detected, the staging process will be the next step for a better understanding of the patient’s situation.

<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->

The Gleason scale is used to classify the stages of the cancer: scores from two to four indicate a slow growing tumor, scores from five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor, while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor; the staging process or the TNM system indicates how spread is the disease, and there are usually four stages: stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV. There is another staging system known under the name of Whitmore-Jewett staging, very similar to the TNM system, one obvious difference being the replacement of the roman numerals with Latin letters.

In stage A, the tumor is not clinically detectable, in stage B the tumor is organ-confined and can be detected after medical examinations, in stage C the tumor began spreading outside the prostate organ and in stage D, the tumor has already infected other organs.

According to the Whitmore-Jewett staging process, the late stages of the prostate cancer are obviously C and D.

In stage C, the tumor is still in the surrounding area of the prostate but chances are that it probably also entered the seminal vesicles. In substage C1 the cancerous cells have spread through the capsule containing the prostate and in substage C2 the cancer already began to block the urine flown from the ureters or the bladder outlet.

In stage D, the cancer has spread far from the prostate gland and is known as the stage of metastatic cancer. In substage D0 the blood tests indicate that the cancer has spread in the body even though the imaging tests and examination show otherwise; in substage D1 the cancer is found in the lymph nodes; in substage D2 the cancer has spread to the other organs surrounding the prostate and to the bones; in substage D3, by following the prescribed treatment, the cancer is similar as in stage D2, without further advancing.

In these last stages the patients present the following symptoms: weakness in the legs, fecal an urinary incontinence, bone pain; if the cancer had spread to the lungs and liver it will cause breathing problems, chest and abdomen pains; if the spinal cord is affected it can cause the compression of the spine, metastatic cancer will gravely affect the pelvis, the ribs and the vertebrae.

Advanced prostate cancer has a treatment, even though it is less effective in this stage comparing to the other early ones. This is probably the reason why doctors strongly recommend to take good care of you body after you reached a certain age and always seek for their counseling if strange symptoms do appear.

The cancer is not the only type of disease affecting the prostate gland so for an early and accurate diagnose the screening tests are often recommended.

These screening tests include two procedures: the digital rectal exam or DRE, when the doctor searches for a hardness or a lump on the surface of the prostate gland by inserting a gloved finger into the rectum, and the prostate specific antigen blood tests or PSA, used as an indicator for determining how spread is the tumor in the organism.

<-336x280 Large Rectangle - center->

If the PSA test result indicates under four nanograms per milliliter of blood then it is considered as a normal result and a result higher than ten is considered abnormal. In this latter case the doctor will recommend a prostate biopsy which is a procedure described as withdrawing of one or two small pieces of the prostate tissue, using a needle trans-rectally, done under the guidance of the ultrasound images of the prostate area.



If the cancer has spread to the bones, radionuclide bone scans can confirm that; if we are talking about affected surrounding organs, coaxial tomography or CAT scans and magnetic resonance imaging or MRI scans can tell how much the cancer has spread in these areas; there is also a new method of biopsy known as the prostate mapping that combines the template-guided multiple biopsies with the multi-sequence MRI scans and is done under general anesthetic, by taking thirty to fifty biopsies through the skin area found in front of the back passage.

If cancer is diagnosed, the Gleason scale is used to classify the stages of the cancer: scores from two to four indicate a slow growing tumor, scores from five to six indicate an intermediate aggressiveness of the tumor, while scores from seven to ten indicate the rapid growth of the cancerous tumor; the staging process or the TNM system indicates how spread is the disease, and there are usually four stages: stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV.

The TNM abbreviation stands for tumor, describing the size of the main area of the cancer, nodes or if the prostate cancer has already spread to the lymph nodes and just how much, and metastatis or the distant and advanced spread of the cancer to the liver or bones.

In stage I, the cancer is found only in the gland, has a microscopic size and could be detected only if prostate tissue parts are analyzed. In stage II, the tumor has grown only inside the gland and you could feel a lump. In stage III the tumor has barely spread to the surrounding areas of the prostate. In stage IV the cancer is metastasized and has spread to the bones, lungs, liver and the lymph nodes.

There is also the Whitmore-Jewett staging, similar to the TNM staging, one obvious difference being the replacement of the roman numerals with Latin letters, and so stage I become stage A, stage II becomes stage B, stage III becomes stage C and stage IV becomes stage D.

In stage A, the tumor is not clinically detectable, in stage B the tumor is organ-confined and can be detected after medical examinations, in stage C the tumor began spreading outside the prostate organ and in stage D, the tumor has already infected other organs.

The staging process is very important because the future treatment procedure will be chosen in accordance to the result obtained.