prostate cancer gleason

Gleason grading system for prostate cancer



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In addition to staging, prostate cancer is graded to determine how aggressive or fast growing the tumour is. Cells taken during your biopsy are graded according to their appearance under a microscope. Normal cells have certain distinguishing characteristics. Aggressive cancer cells do not have distinguishing marks of normal cells.

There are several grading systems, but the Gleason system is the most common. It ranges from a score of 4 (the lowest) to 10 (the highest). Lower scores (4-6) mean that they are usually less aggressive and a score of 8-10 means the cancer are more likely to be aggressive.

Histological Grading of Prostate Cancer - Gleason system

Grade 2	Well differentiated carcinoma with some variation in size and shape of glands
Grade 3	Moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma either a) polymorphic differentiated glands separated by abundant stroma arranged in poorly defined clumps or b) well defined cribriform or papillary masses which generally correspond to intra-duct spread.
Grade 4	Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Tumour clumps are poorly defined and differentiated with fixed glands widely infiltrating prostatic stroma
Grade 5	Undifferentiated carcinoma Carcinoma with no or minimal very poorly differentiated gland formation, and marked stromal infiltration. Central necrosis may be present in tumour cell mass

(Gleason score (4-10) is sum of scores of primary & secondary morphological patterns).

Further general information Your doctors and specialist nurses are in an ideal position to give you relevant information on your disease and treatment as they know your individual circumstances. Cancerbackup has a help line (0808 800 1234) and a prize winning video available in English, Italian, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati & Hindi explaining Radiotherapy & Chemotherapy. Cancernet.co.uk has over 500 pages describing cancer, its management, practical tips and tool which patients, their carers and their doctors have found helpful during the cancer journey.