Joe Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer
Former US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, US media is reporting.
CNN broke the news on Monday (AEST) that the 82-year-old’s medical diagnosis had come after he experienced “increasing urinary symptoms”.
Biden’s office issued a statement confirming the former president had been seen for a “prostate nodule”.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” it said.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management.
“The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
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Last week, it was revealed that a small nodule had been found in Biden’s prostate during a routine physical exam.
The Gleason score measures, on a scale of one to 10, how the cancerous cells look compared with normal cells.
Biden’s office said his score was nine, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.
When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often spreads to the bones.
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Metastasised cancer is much harder to treat than localised cancer because it can be hard for drugs to reach all the tumours and completely root out the disease.
However, when prostate cancers need hormones to grow, as in Biden’s case, they can be susceptible to treatment that deprives the tumours of hormones.
Biden’s health was a dominant concern among voters during his presidential term. After a calamitous debate performance last June while seeking reelection, Biden abandoned his bid for a second term.
Then-vice president Kamala Harris became the nominee. She lost to Republican Donald Trump, who returned to the White House after a four-year hiatus.
But in recent days, Biden rejected concerns about his age despite reporting in the new book Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that aides had shielded the public from the extent of his decline during his presidential term.
In February 2023, Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
And in November 2021, he had a polyp removed from his colon that was a benign but potentially pre-cancerous lesion.
In 2022, Biden made a “cancer moonshot” one of his administration’s priorities to halve the cancer death rate over the next 25 years.
The initiative was a continuation of his work as vice president to address a disease that had killed his older son, Beau.
Trump repeatedly raised questions about Biden’s physical and mental capacity during the campaign.
