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Question for PC braniacs

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Posted 10/22/2012 7:26 AM (GMT 0)
I need percentages.  Overall, what percentage of men are diagnosed with low risk disease, what percentage are intermediate, what percentage are advanced?

Thank you!

Posted 10/22/2012 1:59 PM (GMT 0)
walkbyfaith,

If I understand correctly what you are asking, what you are asking is what they used to call the $64,000 question: when is a cancer (not just PCa) "indolent" (sits around in a person, maybe for years, doesn't do much), and when is it "aggressive" (self-explanatory). Medical science coming up with a really effective answer to that one would be a sea change in cancer treatment.

But getting back to your question, I'm sure you must already be familiar with the Gleason scoring system, which is currently the standard for rating PCa aggressiveness in individuals. This of course is the number which you can see is an almost automatic entry in our signatures when we post here on the list. Gleason numbers run from 2-10, higher numbers mean more aggressive cancers, Gleason 6 is average, etc. You can learn more by googling and reading, as there are a vast number of sites online which tell a lot about the system.

But as to your question, I did locate something that maybe offers a little more insight into an answer. The following is something I found just a little while ago:

Gleason Percent of PCa
score diagnoses

2-5 2 %
6 48 %
7 33 %
8-10 17 %

(Source: http://prosatte-cancer-org/the-gleason-score-a-significant-biologic-manifestation-of-prostate-cancer-aggressiveness-on-biopsy)

Perhaps this offers a bit of an answer to your question.
Posted 10/22/2012 2:05 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry, that table should have looked like:

Gleason Percent of PCa
score diagnoses

2-5 2 %
6 48 %
7 33 %
8-10 17 %

Did it come out right this time?
Posted 10/22/2012 2:06 PM (GMT 0)
I need to work on my table-posting.
Posted 10/22/2012 2:45 PM (GMT 0)
It isn't you, it's the way the Forum software handles it...
Posted 10/22/2012 3:36 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you Gyguy. Yes, I completely understand gleason scores. I should have explained. I'm writing our story for a newsletter at the PCRI. I wanted to briefly touch on prostate cancer percentages as far as low-risk, intermediate-risk, and advanced disease. I was under the impression that about 90% of PC is low-risk, with the other 10% falling into to advanced category. I am a tad off. :) I wondered where they placed the intermediate guys, like my husband.

So, if I am understanding your numbers. Of the men diagnosed with PC, 48% are low risk, 33% are intermediate, and 17% are considered advanced. Does this sound correct?  I don't want to sound too *clinical*, if that's the word.  I'm telling our story.  I don't want to scare the reader in to thinking all PC is like my husband's, so I want to briefly eduate as well.

Post Edited (walkbyfaith) : 10/22/2012 9:43:11 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/22/2012 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
walkbyfaith:

Yes, I think we are both interpreting these percentage numbers the same way, and maybe if you present them in your article as we seem to understand them, perhaps that would be enough.

After thinking about your question for a while, though, it seems to me there are really two questions here: the first one is where-is-the-PCa-right-now, and, two, where-is-it-likely-to-go-from-here? But this is really a separate issue, and gets back to the need for better aggressiveness-prediction tools.

Have you also considered including data on 5-year and 10-year survival rates in your article? It seems to me that sort of data might also fit in with the type of information you are trying to present. (Such data is pretty widely available on the net, and usually also shows survival percentage rates).

I'm sort of hoping another one of us here who is more of a statistics person might jump in here and give a better answer to your question that I have done, but maybe we're off to a start with what we have now.

If your article is posted, could you please provide us with a link to it, or post it or a summary of it here? I'm sure we'd all like to hear from you about it.
Posted 10/22/2012 4:23 PM (GMT 0)
Another way of looking at it is that of all the cases Dxed only about 15% are truely at risk from dieing from the disease according to Dr Mark Scholz.
Posted 10/22/2012 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
John T.:

The 15 % number you cite is interesting, as it corresponds pretty closely to the 17 % for GS8-10 that I cited above.
Posted 10/22/2012 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
JohnT, thank you! Gyguy, I will post a link when the story is published. Thanks for your help.
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