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Former US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, his representatives have said. The cancer has reportedly spread to his bones.
Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his personal office has announced.
He visited doctors last week for urinary symptoms when a prostate nodule was discovered. Biden’s representatives say that various different options are currently being considered by his family.
‘While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive,’ his office said in a statement. ‘This allows for effective management.’
As The Guardian reports, prostate cancers are rated on a Gleason score. This measures how the cancerous cells appear compared to normal cells, with the numbers usually ranging from six to ten. Biden’s score is nine, indicating it is particularly aggressive.
When the disease has spread beyond its local origin to other areas of the body it is referred to as ‘metastasised cancer.’ This is much more difficult to treat as it is far harder to effectively reach all the tumours in every appropriate area.
At this stage, treatment will often be more concerned with controlling the cancer and keeping it stable, rather than eradicating it entirely. Biden’s case requires hormones to grow, and these can be removed with treatment, thereby slowing the cancer down if all goes as intended.
