Doctors normally collect statistics and information relating to divergent types and phases of cancer, and its prognosis. Prognosis is the expected results of your disease and treatment. They indicate how much is your chance to be cured or get better and how long you are likely to live.

Therefore, prognosis is basically concerned with the survival rates of different stages of prostate cancer. While this information is useful for the doctors to carry on their treatment, it is also useful for others who desire to have a comprehensive knowledge about prostate cancer.

The problem is, till date there is no comprehensive documentation of the huge amount of data collected by different organizations, and it has not been transmitted into a statistical book of some sort. However, the information is there, mostly available on the nets, and you can have a look at them and get to know more about these aspects of prostate cancer.

Statistics relating to prostate cancer can be broadly classified into three categories, such as, incidence, mortality, and survival. It is quite difficult to work out the prognosis for prostate cancer. The reason is that there are no fixed and specific causes of prostate cancer. Multiple factors cause the growth of prostate cancer, and this is why it becomes essential for you to discuss with your cancer specialist about the prognosis in your own case. Generalized prognosis can hardly cover all aspects of your disease and health status.

Factors that basically affect the outcome of your prostate cancer are the stages of the disease. These are the Gleason grade, or score and PSA level. There are four stages of prostate cancer, and the outcome of your treatment will depend largely on the stage that you are in. The Gleason grade or score refers to how the cells in your prostate cancer and its affected parts look under the microscope. Gleason grade is your score in prostate cancer. Gleason grade from 2 through 4 are considered low grade prostate cancers. Such prostate cancer grows very slowly. The grades from 5 through 7 are considered intermediate grade where the growth is moderate, and grades of 8 through 10 are high grade cancers with fast growth rate.

For low Gleason score, the doctor may suggest monitoring. This would mean waiting and watching the progress. The cancer may not cause trouble at this time. In case of high Gleason score the doctor will suggest immediate active treatment. PSA level of your blood is extremely important since a low stage cancer with high PSA may behave much worse compared to a high stage cancer with low PSA.

Precise survival rate for prostate cancer is very difficult to calculate. However, survey has revealed that the survival rate for stages 1 and 2 ranges from 65 to 98%. The survival rate for stage three hovers around 60%, and in all these cases the patient is likely to survive over five years from the date of diagnosis. The survival rate is however low at about 30% in case stage 4 prostate cancers. The life expectancy is about two years after diagnosis.

While going for prognosis you must not forget that statistics are always a little out of date. With the medical science progressing by leaps and bounds they are likely to change from time to time.

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