Expert on prostate cancer dies at 88:Donald F. Gleason - The Gleason scores determines the disease's aggressiveness

Expert on prostate cancer dies at 88
Donald F. Gleason - The Gleason scores determines the disease's aggressiveness
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Oregonian
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dr. Donald F. Gleason, who devised the Gleason score used to help determine the aggressiveness of prostate cancer in millions of men, died Dec. 28 in Edina, Minn. He was 88.

He taught at the University of Minnesota and was the former chief of pathology at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he did most of the research that led to the score.

Gleason devised his scoring system in the 1960s through his observations of the cellular architecture of the prostate, the gland that produces seminal fluid. It helps provide a prognosis and guide treatment, and it is a reference standard in clinical trials testing new therapies.

"Every prostate cancer patient knows his Gleason score," said Dr. Bruce Roth, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an official of the American Society of Cancer Oncology. "It is remarkable that the Gleason score remains the standard test despite the millions of dollars spent on trying to develop molecular tests to displace it."

The Gleason score became even more widely applied with the surge in the number of prostate cancers detected from a different test, the PSA.

Last year, 186,320 men in the United States developed prostate cancer and 28,660 died from it, according to the American Cancer Society.

Gleason is survived by his wife, Nancy; three daughters, Donna O'Neill, Sue Anderson and Ginger Venable; a sister, Barbara Jarl; and nine grandchildren.