Most patients whose prostate cancer has already spread to distant sites (e.g. bone or lymph nodes, called stage D or Stage IV) are not curable. On the other hand many patients live years. According to the NCI data the odds of living 5 years is 33% and according to the NCDB data base the percent of Stage IV patients still alive at 5 years is 48%. As noted in the study below of patients with Stage IV disease treated with different types of hormones, survival can be quite prolonged and depends on the degree of spread as noted:
 
Survival with minimal or extensive metastatic prostate cancer, comparing orchiectomy alone or orchiectomy plus flutamide. Overall median survival was the same (30 - 33 months), survival with minimal disease (51 to 52 months, i.e. nodal or bone mets confined to pelvis or axial skeleton) is much better than with extensive (28 months, visceral mets or appendicular mets)

Eisenberg_nejm.gif (9940 bytes)

N Engl J Med 1998;339:1036-42