How does one know if the prostate cancer is confined to the prostate?
By staging your cancer, your doctor is trying to assess, based on your prostate biopsy results, your physical examination, your PSA, and other tests and x-rays, whether your prostate cancer is confined to the prostate, and if it is not, to what extent it has spread. Studies of large numbers of men who have undergone radical prostatectomy and pelvic lymph node dissections have established some guidelines regarding the likelihood of prostate capsular involvement and lymph node metastases. It was initially thought that an MRI would be very helpful in determining whether capsular penetration and extra capsular disease were present; however, it has only proved to be useful in centers that perform large numbers of MRIs. Similarly, the use of a CT scan in assessing whether or not the cancer has spread to the pelvic lymph nodes has been disappointing.
