The prostate is a gland that is located between the penis and the bladder in all men. Prostate cancer begins in the gland cells of the prostate. If left untreated, cancer can spread to all the nearby organs. To understand the disease better, you should know the stages of prostate cancer and what one can expect and experience at each of these stages.

Stage T1
This is the first stage of prostate cancer. Here, the tumor is often identified by the doctor when the patient is being treated for another medical condition. The tumor is usually identified during Digital Rectal Examinations or a CT scan or ultrasound. There are three sub-stages of prostate cancer under stage I.

• T1a
  In this stage, tumors are identified while surgically removing benign prostate cells in the person’s body. In the removed prostate cells, only 5% or less of the cells are cancerous.
• T1b
  In this stage, in the removed benign cells, more than 5% of the cells are proven to be cancerous.
• T1c
  In this stage, the tumor is identified using a needle biopsy procedure, often done because of elevated PSA levels.

Stage T2
This is the second stage of prostate cancer, where the cancerous cells are found confined to the prostate. The tumor can be identified during a Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) and a CT scan or an ultrasound process. There are again three sub-stages to this.

• T2a
  In this substage, the cancer cells can be seen invading less than one half of the prostate.
• T2b
  Here, the cancer cells have spread to more than one-half of the prostate gland.
• T2c
  In the third sub-stage, the doctors diagnose that the cancer cells have spread to both sides of the gland.

Stage T3
In the third stage ,  the tumor has started spreading outside the prostate to the nearby seminal vesicles. These are also called vesicular glands and lie behind the bladder. There are two sub-stages to this.

• T3a
  In this stage, the doctors notice that the tumor has entirely spread in the prostate and outside of it. However, the vesicles remain unharmed.
• T3b
  Here, the tumor would have spread from the prostate to the seminal vesicles.

Stage T4
This is the last stage of prostate cancer where the tumor has spread from the prostate to the nearby organs, including the rectum, bladder, urethral sphincter, or the pelvis walls. The treatment option during this stage varies depending on the spread of cancer and organs affected.

All these stages of prostate cancer give you a clear idea of how the tumor cells grow. It can take several years or just a few months for cancer to move between the stages. The earlier you detect the disease, the better will be the treatment’s success rate.