Gleason score and lethal prostate cancer: does 3 + 4 = 4 + 3?
June 26th, 2009 Posted in prostate cancerA recent review at Department of Epidemiology of Harvard School of Public Health have compiled data from a pathological analysis on > 800 biopsy and radical prostatectomy specimens. The study conclusion clearly suggests that prostate cancer tumors with a Gleason score of 4 + 3 = 7 are three times more likely to be lethal than cancers with a Gleason score of 3 + 4 = 7.
In other words, the predominance of Gleason pattern 4 in Gleason 7 cancers is a critically important prognostic factor.