How is the cancer stage determined?
DRE by touch, the doctor can tell if the cancer is T1, T2, or beyond T2. Biopsy – small samples of tissue are taken from the prostate for a pathologist to evaluate the tissue and assign a Combined Gleason Grade Score (CGS), which ranges from 2 to 10. The higher the number means the more aggressive the cancer. Prostatic Acid Phosphatase (PAP) blood test – determines if the cancer is confined to the prostate or not. Computed tomography (CT) scan – produces detailed cross-sectional images of the body using hundreds of x-ray like images to determine if the prostate cancer has spread into other organs. CT scans are ideal for determining skeletal structures but have a limited mass size resolution. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – uses strong magnetic fields instead of x-rays to produce an image of the body based on cellular oscillation omitted energy. MRI scans produce a very clear picture of the prostate gland and can show whether the cancer has spread beyond the gland. Endorectal MRI – h
