Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center Specialist Validates the Five-Tiered Gleason Grade Grouping System Finding Published in the Journal of European Urology

Scientists at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center have been able to validate the contemporary five-tiered Gleason Grade Grouping Using Population-based Data. The study, led by scientific researcher Dr. Grace Lu-Yao, Associate Director of Population at the cancer center, is now published in the Journal of European Urology. The research conducted confirms that the proposed five-tiered Gleason grade grouping (GGG) system is effectively able to predict the mortality rate among prostate cancer patients.

By evaluating prostate cancer patients who were diagnosed between January 2006 and December 2012 and had primary and secondary Gleason patterns, researchers could quantify the risk of prostate cancer specific mortality and discover that the risk of prostate cancer specific mortality nearly doubled with each GGG increase.

The study concludes that racially diverse populations which reflect real-life involvements, confirms that the new five-tiered GGG system predicts prostate cancer specific mortality well, regardless of the cancer treatment received or clinical stage at diagnosis and can serve as a useful tool in determining treatment decisions.

Grace Lu-Yao, PhD, MPH, serves as the Associate Director for Population Science at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University and is Vice Chair and professor in the department of medical oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, with a joint appointment at Jefferson College of Population Health.

Dr. Lu-Yao is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and a well-recognized cancer epidemiologist with expertise in outcomes research. Many of her research findings on cancer surveillance, screening, and treatment for prostate cancer have provided benchmark references that facilitate decision-making in cancer treatment.