Sometimes called “Watchful Waiting,” this is an approach in which a you and/or your physician monitor your condition, allowing time to pass before medical intervention or therapy is used. During this time, repeated testing may be performed - regular PSA test and MRIs.

A non-cancerous condition in which the prostate grows and pushes against the urethra and the bladder blocking the flow of urine. There is an abnormal multiplication of the non-malignant prostate cells.

A sample of tissue is taken from the body to be examined microscopically to ascertain if cancer is present. A doctor will recommend a biopsy when an initial test suggests an area of tissue in the body isn’t normal. It is the most important procedure in diagnosing cancer.

Inhibits bone loss and fractures and relieves pain from prostate cancer in the bone.

Targets cancer cells that grow quickly including cancer cells metastasized to the bone.

Digital Rectal Exam (DRE) Finger wave! A health care provider inserts a gloved, lubricated finger into the rectum and examines the prostate for any irregularities in size, shape and texture.

Inability to have an erection suitable for intercourse. May be a result of an injury secondary to radiation therapy, surgical resection of the prostate, hormonal deprivation therapy, or other aspects of neurological, vascular or disease processes.

The FREE PSA test measures the percentage of unbound PSA; the PSA test measures the total of both free and bound PSA.

First an MRI looks for suspicions lesions. This is followed by a targeted biopsy to examine the suspect. lesions.

A pathologist assigns a grade from 1 to 5 to the two most predominant cancer patterns in your biopsy and adds the two grades to give the  Gleason Score. In practice, scores are often expressed as a sum (e.g. 3+4, 4+3 indicating intermediate favorable and intermediate unfavorable).

A subjective method of measuring the differentiation of cells to classify tumors by their microscopic appearance and how aggressively the cancer cells may multiply. This system divides prostate cancer into five histological patterns ranging from 1-5. Patterns 1 and 2 represent well- differentiated tumors and are dealt with more easily; Gleason patterns 3 represents moderately well-differentiated tumor cells beginning to scatter; Gleason patterns 4 and 5 indicate poorly differentiated cells with the potential for fast growth. The total Gleason score is determined by adding a primary and secondary score pattern for each prostatic lesion i.e. 3+4=7. The most well-differentiated cancer cells would consist entirely of Gleason pattern 1 ( primary +secondary + 1+1 or Gleason 2 ) and the most poorly differentiated cancer cells would have a 5+5 or total Gleason score of 10.

This is an indication of the risk of your cancer, from Low (Group 1) through Intermediate (Grades 2 and 3) to High (Groups 4 and 5)

The stage of your cancer looks at where the cancer is present in your body. The grade of your cancer describes what the cancel cells look like under a microscope. See Gleason Score and Grade Group

Hormone Therapy (also called Androgen Deprivation Therapy), is the use of medication or surgery (removal of testicles) to prevent cancer cells from getting the hormones needed to grow. In prostate cancer this means the hormone testosterone.

Treatment by stimulation of the body’s immune system.

PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, is a protein produced by the prostate and found mostly in semen, with very small amounts released into the bloodstream. When there’s a problem with the prostate—such as the development and growth of prostate cancer—more PSA is released