Dictionary of Cancer Terms
View in Spanish: Puntaje de Gleason
Gleason score (GLEE-sun)
A system of grading prostate cancer tissue based on how it looks under a microscope. Gleason scores range from 2 to 10 and indicate how likely it is that a tumor will spread. A low Gleason score means the cancer tissue is similar to normal prostate tissue and the tumor is less likely to spread; a high Gleason score means the cancer tissue is very different from normal and the tumor is more likely to spread.
Source: National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms, available at www.cancer.gov/dictionary.