Googling the Gleason scores resulted in several hits tht discussed it extensively, but I am still bewildered, as there did not seem to be a simple chart of each score and what it means to the patient. In layman’s terms, that is.
I had a biopsy eight years ago when my usually low PSA doubled, and it was found that I did have cancer on the left side. They said the Gleason was 3+3.
I had eight weeks of radiation therapy and have been fine with PSAs around 0.1 to 0.3. Recently, it went up to 1.1 and my doc said that although that is low, when it goes up that much, it should be checked out.
I went to an onconolgoist who suggests waiting three months. I’m 81, but in excellent health with family members who all lived to late 88 or more.
I can accept that it is prudent to wait a while and see what the PSA does, but I am really interested in what my previous Gleason rating actually means.
Can anybody explain this in words of three sylables or less? How bad is 3+3 on a scale of 1 to 10? Or can’t that be done?
Briefly, Gleason grading tells you how much the cancer’s growth pattern resembles that of normal prostate tissue (what we pathologists call “differentiation”; a well-differentiated tumor shows growth patterns similar to its tissue of origin, while a poorly-differentiated tumor may bear little resemblance to its primary site). The degree of differentiation is roughly correlated with how aggressively the tumor behaves.
When we assign a Gleason grade or score to a prostate cancer, we give a number for the predominant pattern and another for the most significant minor pattern. These numbers range from 1 to 5 (1 being the most well-differentiated, 5 being the least). The two numbers are then (sometimes) added together for the purposes of various treatment decisions.
I’m not up to date on the most current thinking for the treatment of prostate cancer, but I recall that traditionally, a total Gleason score of 7 was the threshold for more aggressive therapy, and Gleason 6 or below was considered pretty indolent.
I’m not a medical doctor, but I’ve read up on this topic recently. Gleason scores are calculated from biopsies of the prostate. From an online source: “The biopsy Gleason score is a sum of the primary grade (representing the majority of tumor) and a secondary grade (assigned to the minority of the tumor), and is a number ranging from 2 to 10. The higher the Gleason score, the more aggressive the tumor is likely to act and the worse the patient’s prognosis.” A score of 3+3 is really on the low side. If you’re 81 with your history, I’d say that you’re probably an excellent candidate for watchful waiting. As my doctor has told me, almost all old men have some degree of prostate cancer when they die, but they didn’t die from prostate cancer.