What is grading and staging?

All cancers are graded and staged. Grading indicates how aggressive the cancer is, and staging indicates how advanced it is. Brian J. Miles, MD, urologic oncologist and professor of urology at Houston Methodist, explains how the grading and staging process works for prostate cancer patients, including what the Gleason score means and what the two numbers indicate. Miles also explains the TNM – tumor, nodes and metastasis – in the staging determination.