Predicting
Pathologic Stage
The
Partin Coefficient Tables
The Partin Coefficient
Tables are important tools in guiding decisions about
effective treatment options for prostate cancer. They are
a way of predicting the cancer's pathologic stage,
which can only be determined definitively after the prostate
gland has been surgically removed and examined by a pathologist.
The tables show the probability of having one of the following
pathologic stages of prostate cancer, based on PSA level, Gleason score and clinical stage:
- organ-confined
disease: prostate cancer completely confined to the prostate
gland
- established
capsular penetration: prostate cancer extended into and
possibly through the prostatic capsule
- seminal
vesicle involvement
- lymph
node involvement.
If the probability of organ-confined disease is high, then early-stage
treatment options are viable. If the probability of cancer having
spread beyond the prostate is high, then other treatment options
will need to be considered.
Based on data
from 4133 men treated for prostate cancer, the predictions of
pathological stage are accurate to within 10 percent for:
- organ-confined
disease: 67.3 percent of the time
- established
capsular penetration: 59.6 percent of the time
- seminal
vesicle involvement: 79.6 percent of the time
- lymph
node involvement: 82.9 percent of the time.
More information:
The Prostate Cancer pages of this Web site are part of the
Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Awareness Program (CPCAP), a
major regional effort to reduce the rates of death and illness
caused by prostate cancer in southwestern Pe
