What is the Gleason score of prostate cancer?

A friend has a Gleason score of 5 prostate cancer. What does this mean?

What is the Gleason score of prostate cancer?
"The grade of the cancer is an important factor in predicting long-term results of treatment, response to treatment, and survival. With Prostate Cancer the most commonly used grading system is the Gleason Scale. In this grading system, the cell are examined by a pathologist under the microscope and assigned a number based on how the cancer cells look and how they are arranged together. Because the prostate cancer may be composed of cancer cells of different grades, the pathologist assigns numbers to the two predominant grades present. The numbers range from 1 (low grade) to 5 (high grade). The Gleason score is the total of these two numbers; for example, am man with a Gleason grade of 2 and 3 in his prostate cancer would have a Gleason score of 5. Low-score cancers are those with a Gleason score of 2,3,


and 4; intermediate-score cancers are those with a Gleason score of 5, 6, or 7; and high-score cancers are those with a Gleason score of 8, 9, and 10. The speed of growth and the agressiveness of the cancer increase with the Gleason score."
Reply:Additional stuff to add with Tony's (tidbits): it is a subjective testing, opinions as to which grade someone actually has can vary and so their are "experts" they do reviews on biopsies to the best analysis (Bostwick, Epstein and some others are amongest them).





You can have various gleason scores going on within your own gland, one are could be a gleason 7 (3+4) and another could show 9 (4+5). I had 3 different scores found. Naturally the highest rating may be the best indicator of what variation of agressive cancer you may have to deal with.





Another point there are a few different types of prostate cancers, and some of them are much worse than the average most common form that most men are diagnosed with. Among the worst is "small cell" and a few others, they don't respond to hormone therapies well.





Another item point: high grade P.I.N. which can be found during biopsy analysis, although not considered definitive prostate cancer and not give a gleason score, it can be a 'pre-cursor' to becoming prostate cancers with gleason scores. So if you are found with this, monitor your PCa often with testings.





Another point: generalization that the higher grade gleason scores usually reflect less curative rates or even control rates of PCa progression over time. So, some surgeons will not remove a prostate with patients in high gleason score areas, whereby some others will and even mention the word 'cure' in discussion (be leary of any such claims at any diagnosis level).





Neutrondbob