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.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.