Where prostate cancer can spread

Spread means prostate cancer cells have moved from the original tumour to another part of the body. Nearby pelvic lymph nodes and bones are important areas for assessment. The lungs, liver, and other sites can also be investigated when symptoms, scan findings, or disease behaviour raise concern. A suspicious area on imaging is not automatically metastasis; infection, injury, and other conditions can look similar.

The location of spread affects staging and treatment planning. Doctors may use blood tests, examination, CT, MRI, bone imaging, or other scans selected for your situation. The findings are considered together rather than interpreted from a single symptom.

Ask which areas have been assessed and whether the result is confirmed or still uncertain. Treatment may use medicines that act throughout the body, radiotherapy for a painful or threatening area, or supportive care for bones and other symptoms. Bone-strengthening therapy may be discussed when bone health is a concern. Your plan depends on location, symptoms, earlier treatment, and overall health.

Report new pain, changes in walking, urinary problems, cough, or breathlessness. Difficulty passing urine should be assessed directly and does not show where cancer is located.

Contact your team promptly for new severe back or bone pain, difficulty walking, worsening breathlessness, coughing blood, or inability to pass urine. Emergency help is needed for sudden leg weakness, numbness around the groin, loss of bladder or bowel control, or severe breathing difficulty.

Which sites have been checked? What does each scan show, and is a biopsy needed? What symptoms could indicate a complication? Which treatments address the cancer throughout the body and which target a specific site?