What Happens When Prostate Cancer Spreads to the Bones?

Approx 80 percent of the time prostate cancer cells metastasize or spread, they will spread to bones, like as the hip, spine, and pelvis bones. It can be by direct invasion or by traveling through your blood or lymphatic system. You may observe new or different symptoms once you have bone metastases. Patients with disease that has spread to distant organs, most commonly the spine, ribs, pelvis and other bones have metastatic stage IV or D2 prostate cancer. Prostate cancer diagnosed at this stage is often difficult to cure although patients may live for several years with effective treatment. Like if the 5-year relative survival rate for a specific stage of prostate cancer is 90%, then men who have that cancer are, on average, about 90% as likely as men who don’t have that cancer to live for at least 5 years after being diagnosed.

What is a prostate gland?

The prostate is a gland the size of a golf ball that sits below the bladder and in front of the rectum. It’s responsible for making the fluid that forms semen. Many men develop cancer of the prostate gland; it’s the second most common cancer among men in India. There are so many stages of prostate cancer the initial stage, when the cancer is still few to the prostate gland itself, is the easiest to treat.

When cancer has spread and metastasized, beyond the prostate gland, it’s considered advanced. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), when it spreads it is common for the cancer cells to reach the bones first. Nine out of 10 men with advanced prostate cancer also have it in their bones.