• Extraprostatic extension and seminal vesicle invasion: Whether the cancer has grown out through the wall of the prostate (pT3a) or into the seminal vesicles behind it (pT3b).
• PSA density: The PSA divided by the volume of the prostate measured on the scan.
• Intermittent androgen deprivation (IAD): Taking planned breaks from hormone therapy once the PSA has settled, restarting when it rises again.
• Metastasis-free survival (MFS): The time from joining a trial until a scan first shows the cancer has spread, or the man dies, whichever comes first.
• PSA kinetics: PSA doubling time and PSA density: How fast PSA is rising matters more than its level: a doubling time under ten months after surgery or radiotherapy, or under nine months in castration-resistant disease, marks the men whose cancer is moving quickly and who benefit from earlier hormone therapy or a PSMA scan, while PSA density (PSA divided by prostate volume) helps decide who needs a biopsy at all.
• PSA (prostate-specific antigen): A blood protein made by the prostate; raised levels prompt further tests, and falling levels show treatment is working.
• Cambridge Prognostic Group (CPG 1 to 5): The five-band risk score the NHS uses for prostate cancer that has not spread.
• Oligometastatic disease: Cancer that has spread to only a few places, which may still be curable by treating each spot.
• TNM staging for prostate cancer, and what changed in the 9th edition: The anatomical stage of prostate cancer: how far the tumour has grown (T), whether it is in the pelvic lymph nodes (N) and whether it has spread further (M).

Biomarker results to ask for: PSA and PSA doubling time, PSMA PET (positive in most men above 0.5 ng/mL), Decipher on the prostatectomy specimen, Interval from local therapy to recurrence.

Scans and tests linked to this cancer: Active surveillance, PSMA PET, RNA sequencing & expression profiling.

Bring copies of scan reports, pathology and blood results, and a list of every medicine and supplement.

• High-risk biochemical recurrence (doubling time under 9 months): Enzalutamide with leuprolide, or enzalutamide alone (EMBARK); PSMA PET before starting; intermittent therapy with treatment suspension when PSA becomes undetectable. (Enzalutamide, Leuprolide (leuprorelin) and GnRH agonists, EMBARK, PSMA PET)
• After prostatectomy: Early salvage radiotherapy to the prostate bed, with or without pelvic nodes and four to six months of androgen deprivation for adverse features; observation for slow doubling times. (IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam), Androgen deprivation & AR pathway inhibitors, PSA (prostate-specific antigen), Decipher Prostate)
• After radiotherapy, local recurrence: Salvage prostatectomy, brachytherapy, cryotherapy or high-intensity focused ultrasound in fit men with biopsy-proven local disease and no metastases on PSMA PET. (Robotic & minimally invasive surgery, Brachytherapy, Focused ultrasound & histotripsy, PSMA PET)
• PSMA PET-detected oligorecurrence: Stereotactic radiotherapy to the visible metastases, usually within trials or with hormone therapy; the survival benefit is unproven. (SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy), Oligometastatic disease, PSMA-PET-guided metastasis-directed therapy as a curative strategy in oligorecurrent prostate cancer)

From the standard of care recorded for this cancer; which apply depends on your stage and biomarkers. Ask which the team recommends and why.