If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, you may want to find out all you can about what lies ahead. But no one can say for certain what will happen to you.

Doctors usually talk about the percentage of men who are likely to be alive in five or 10 years. You may find it easier to cope if you know these figures. On the other hand, you may find this kind of information confusing and frightening.

If you don't want to read about figures on surviving prostatecancer, then skip this section. If you do read on, bear in mind that no statistics can tell you what will happen to you as an individual. There are many different things that can affect the outlook for you personally.

What lies ahead?

Most prostate cancers grow slowly, and many men live for years without getting any symptoms. More than 7 out of 10 men will still be alive five years after being diagnosed.^[11]

There are two factors that doctors use to predict what may happen to you. The first is the TNM stage of your cancer. TNM stands for 'tumour, node, metastasis', and this staging system looks at how far your cancer has spread and whether any lymph nodes have been affected.

The second factor doctors look at is the grade of your tumour. Your cancer grade is determined by your Gleason score, a system that rates how aggressive your cancer looks under a microscope. The more your cancer cells look like normal prostate cells, the lower your grade and the better your chances. A low-grade tumour (Gleason score 2 to 4) is likely to be growing slowly, while a high-grade tumour (Gleason score 8 to 10) is more likely to grow aggressively or to have already spread.

• If you have been diagnosed at an early stage of the disease and the cancer has not spread beyond your prostate, there's a good chance that you will live as long as someone who does not have prostate cancer. Around 90 out of every 100 men with the early stage of prostate cancer are still alive five years after their diagnosis.^[16] But that doesn't necessarily mean that you are 'cured'. You will probably always need regular check-ups.

• If your cancer has spread to the organs close to your prostate, the cancer is not usually curable, but your chances of surviving the disease are still good.

• Most men who have prostate cancer that has spread to more distant parts of their body or to their bones (called metastatic disease) will die from it. Only a third of these men will still be alive five years after being diagnosed.^[17][18]

• Your age and general health can affect whether you will survive your cancer. If you are older (say, over 70) and have other health problems, such as heart disease or diabetes, you may be more likely to die from these conditions than from your cancer. The chance of dying from prostate cancer is higher if you are a younger man, as you are less likely to have other health problems. You also have longer to live, which means the disease has more time to get worse.

We have prepared some detailed information about what may happen to people with different types of prostate cancer. To read more, see Survival rates for prostate cancer.