Prostate Cancer: Grading

To form your treatment plan, your healthcare team must learn more about your cancer. What do the cancer cells look like? Has the cancer spread beyond the prostate? Cells removed during biopsy will be viewed under the microscope. Treatment will depend on how the cells look (grade) and where they are located (stage).

Grading the Cancer

A cancer is graded using tissue removed during a biopsy. A pathologist (a doctor who identifies diseases by studying cells and tissues) looks at this tissue under a microscope. He or she then determines the cancer's grade, from 1 to 5. Low-grade cancers are similar to normal tissue. High-grade cancers differ from normal tissue in the way cells are organized, and in cell size and shape. The higher the grade, the faster the cancer is likely to be growing. The pathologist will give a report to your urologist.