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Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, his office announced.
Biden was in a Philadelphia hospital last week, where doctors discovered a “small nodule” on his prostate that they said required further examination. The former president, 82, had been experiencing urinary symptoms, his office said in a statement Sunday.
The cancer had metastasized to the bone, spokesperson Kelly Scully said in the statement. This is fairly common in patients with advanced prostate cancer, occurring in about 60% of cases, according to the health group Zero Prostate Cancer.
Scully’s statement also said that his cancer was “characterized by a Gleason score of 9.”
The Gleason grading system is used to assess how aggressive a prostate cancer is, with a score of 9 indicating the cancer is very aggressive and likely to grow and spread quickly.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” Scully said. “The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
Because his cancer is hormone sensitive, it may still respond to hormone therapy, which involves stopping testosterone from being made or reaching cancer cells.
Prostate issues, including cancer, are common in older men. Biden was the oldest serving president in US history.
Late-stage treatment options include hormone therapy, chemotherapy, and radiation or a combination of those. Hormone therapy may control the cancer and relieve symptoms. Chemotherapy may be used if the cancer grows rapidly or no longer responds to hormones.
“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis,” President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post. “We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”
The cancer news comes as Biden’s post-presidential life has been dogged by revelations in a new book about his declining mental faculties during his presidency and aides’ efforts to gloss them over. Since excerpts of the book have been released, Democrats have been debating their role in keeping him as the 2024 presidential nominee despite voter concerns about his age.
The issue of Biden’s age has arisen again because of the book’s imminent publication as well as the release by Axios of the audio from Biden’s 2023 interviews with special counsel Robert Hur, who at the time described Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory.”