Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a statement from his office this Sunday.
Biden was examined by doctors last week after experiencing urinary symptoms and the discovery of a prostate nodule. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, with cancer cells that had spread to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, allowing for effective management,” his office stated. “The president and his family are evaluating treatment options with their doctors.”
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Measuring Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancers are assigned a score called the Gleason scale, which measures, on a scale from 1 to 10, the appearance of cancer cells compared to normal cells.
Biden’s office indicated that his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.
When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it typically moves to the bones. Metastatic cancer is much harder to treat than localized cancer, as it can be difficult for medications to reach all tumors and completely eradicate the disease.
However, when prostate cancers require hormones to grow, as in Biden’s case, they may be susceptible to treatments that deprive tumors of hormones.
Biden’s Health Was a Constant Concern During His 4 Years as President
Biden’s health, at 82 years old, was a dominant concern among voters during his presidency. After a poor performance in a June debate while seeking reelection, Biden withdrew his candidacy for a second term.
The then-Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee and lost to Republican Donald Trump, who returned to the White House after a four-year hiatus.
However, in recent days, Biden dismissed concerns about his age, despite revelations in the new book “Original Sin” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that his aides had concealed the extent of his decline from the public during his presidency.
In February 2023, Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest that turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma, a common type of skin cancer. In November 2021, he had a colon polyp removed that was found to be a benign but potentially precancerous lesion.
In 2022, Biden made the “ambitious mission against cancer” one of his administration’s priorities, aiming to cut cancer death rates in half over the next 25 years.
The initiative continued his work as vice president to address a disease that had claimed the life of his eldest son, Beau.
Image: Marca
