Former President Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer which has spread to his bone, his office said Sunday.
In a statement announcing the disease, Biden’s personal office said the former president, 82, reported increasing urinary symptoms, which led doctors to discover a nodule on his prostate. He was diagnosed Friday, his office said in a statement, with the prostate cancer characterized by a “Gleason score” of nine.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” the statement continued. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
A source told NBC News Biden is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, but it is unclear where he will receive treatment.
A day after the announcement, Biden posted a message on social media, thanking his supporters.
“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote in the post Monday morning. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
As more details about Bidens health continue to unfold, here’s what to know about prostate cancer, symptoms, what a Gleason score is and more.
What is a Gleason score and what does the diagnosis mean?
Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what’s known as a Gleason score. The scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9 and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden’s office said his score was 9 (Group grade 5), suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.
It also means the cancer is likelier than others to grow and spread.
“Gleason 9 is, by definition, aggressive, but you don’t know how bad it is unless you know what the PET scan looks like,” Dr. Alan Tan, genitourinary section lead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee said. Tan was not involved with Biden’s case.
Tan said that type of prostate cancer is not rare. “This is the most common thing I see in my clinic,” he said. “This is bread-and-butter genitourinary oncology.”
Is Biden’s cancer curable?
When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often spreads to the bones. Metastasized cancer is much harder to treat than localized cancer because it can be hard for drugs to reach all the tumors 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 tumors of hormones.
Outcomes have improved in recent decades and patients can expect to live with metastatic prostate cancer for four or five years, said Dr. Matthew Smith of Massachusetts General Brigham Cancer Center.
“It’s very treatable, but not curable,” Smith said. “Most men in this situation would be treated with drugs and would not be advised to have either surgery or radiation therapy.”
Prostate cancer symptoms
About 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. The cancer is common in older men, and it is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind lung cancer, according to the organization.
A spokesperson for Biden disclosed last Tuesday that a “small nodule” was found on Biden’s prostate during a routine physical examination, which “necessitated further evaluation.”
The American Cancer Society noted that most prostate cancers are found early through screening, though not all screenings detect all cancers.
“Whether you are being screened regularly or not, it’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer and to check with your health care provider if you notice any of them,” the organization said.
Early prostate cancer typically causes no symptoms, the organization said, though symptoms could include blood in urine or semen and problems urinating, including a slow or weak urinary system or the need to urinate more often, especially at night.
Advanced prostate cancers means it has grown larger and possibly spread to other areas, the American Cancer Society said, with more symptoms including:
Trouble getting an erection (erectile dysfunction or ED) Pain in the hips, back (spine), chest (ribs), or other areas, from cancer that has spread to the bones Weakness or numbness in the legs or feet, or even loss of bladder or bowel control, from cancer in the spine pressing on the spinal cord Weight loss Feeling very tiredFormer President Barack Obama said he is praying “for a fast and full recovery” and credited Biden for spearheading efforts to reduce cancer deaths.
“Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family. Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace,” Obama wrote in a statement.
In 2022, Biden made a “cancer moonshot” one of his administration’s priorities with the goal of halving 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, who died from brain cancer in 2015.
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