Making Sense of Your Prostate Cancer Prognosis
Every day in 2025, more than 850 men are expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and it’s likely that each man (as well as those who care for him) asks the same question: What happens next?
In most cases, you should expect to enjoy a full life after treatment, because most men survive prostate cancer. However, your complete prostate cancer prognosis also depends on a variety of risk factors.
Fortunately, many of these factors are in your control. For example, an estimated one-third of early prostate cancer deaths among men with high genetic risk for the disease could have been prevented with healthy lifestyle practices, according to a 2024 study in JAMA. These practices include getting screened through a prostate specific-antigen (PSA) blood test.
To best manage “what’s next” for your prostate cancer prognosis, let’s start by understanding the disease.
Why You’ve Been Given a Prostate Cancer Prognosis
The prostate is small, weighing in at about three-quarters of an ounce, but its location has large implications for the urinary system. It sits just beneath the bladder and surrounding the urethra, so any issues with your prostate could also affect urination as well as sexual health.
These facts are important for determining the symptoms.
Cancer develops in the prostate when a group of tissue cells grow and multiply abnormally fast, due to changes in the DNA that guides their behavior. The cells divide so fast, and do not die as they normally should, that they form an excess mass, or tumor. If this tumor continues to grow, it can invade and damage other body tissue.
Symptoms of prostate cancer include:
- An increased need to urinate, particularly at night
- A weak urine flow
- Trouble starting and stopping the flow
- Blood in your urine or semen
- Weight loss
- Pain in the lower back, upper thighs, or hips
If you experience any of these symptoms, you should schedule a doctor’s examination soon.
Your Prostate Cancer Prognosis, Stage by Stage
The average survival rate of prostate cancer is a very promising 97%. That rate, however, nosedives once the cancer advances from early stages to late stage. These stages, along with a tumor-grading measure called the Gleason score, determine your prostate cancer prognosis.
The Gleason score assesses the aggressiveness of the cancer cells, with a score of 2 being least aggressive and 10 being most aggressive. The tumor stage reflects how advanced the cancer is in the body.
The stages of prostate cancer and five-year survival rates are:
Stage I: and II: The tumor is localized within the prostate. The cancer prognosis is more than 99% survivability, according to the American Cancer Society.
Stage III: The cancer has spread to tissue directly surrounding the prostate, including the seminal vesicles, rectum, bladder, and pelvic wall. Still, the five-year survival rate is good: 95%.
Stage IV: The cancer has advanced to the bones, lymph nodes, and other organs distant from the prostate. The five-year survival rate at this point drops to 37%.
About 92% of prostate cancer cases are detected in Stages I through III, contributing to good long-term prostate cancer prognoses. After 10 years, the average survival rate is 98%, and after 15 years, 95%.
Again, theses high figures are linked to earlier cancer detection.
Risk Factors that Affect Your Prostate Cancer Prognosis
While the overall prognosis for prostate cancer patients is encouraging, each cancer is unique to its patient, and each patient’s lifestyle and history can influence the outcome.
Among your risks and variables:
Your age – Men who are younger than 50 and older than 80 have the lowest prostate cancer survival rates, WebMD reports. The younger mortality rate is the result of fewer men being tested for prostate cancer before age 50, allowing the cancer to progress before diagnosis.
Your family history – Having a father or brother who has had prostate cancer will more than double your chances of developing the disease, with the risk being higher if your brother has the disease. The more family members affected, the higher the risk, especially if they were diagnosed young.
Your race – One in six Black men develop prostate cancer, compared with one in eight men on average. And Black men are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than white men. If you are a man of African American descent, be especially diligent about getting tested – as young as 40.
Your genetics – Some gene mutations carried from parent to child could raise the chance of prostate cancer developing. Genetic testing can help you determine if your prostate cancer is hereditary and inform your health care decisions.
Your PSA score – PSA test results show the amount of prostate-specific antigen in your blood, with 4 nanograms of antigen per milliliter of blood historically regarded as “normal.” But this is not always the case – age, family history, and other variables can alter what’s actually normal for you, as well as if the score changes from one year to the next.
Tips to Improve Your Prostate Cancer Prognosis
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you can improve your prognosis by doing the following:
- Adopt a healthier diet. Replace processed foods, red meats, and fatty products (including high-fat dairy) with antioxidant-rich fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats.
- Keep moving. Daily exercise to elevate your heart rate and manage weight benefits your whole body, including your cancer-fighting cells.
- Stay away from cigarette smoke. Tobacco smoke carries cancerous chemicals that can raise the risk of prostate cancer spreading.
Lastly, ask your doctor about getting a PSA test, then be sure to monitor it annually for changes. This can save your life: One report found that PSA tests prevented one prostate cancer death in every 11 to 14 men.
Bottom line: The sooner you are diagnosed, the better your prostate cancer prognosis. If you are one of the 850 daily cases detected this year, you should be among the more than 98% to tell about it 10 years from now.
The care team at Advanced Urology Institute is here to answer your questions about prostate cancer. Request an appointment for a consultation or annual exam. Learn more about prostate cancer here.