Joe Biden Diagnosed With Aggressive Cancer

Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His personal office reported this on April 18. The cancer discovered in the 46th US president is characterized by bone metastases, writes NBC News.

Photo: | Biden © Benjamin Vess | Dreamstime.com

"President Joe Biden was diagnosed with a new nodule in his prostate last week," the statement said. "On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9 (grade 5) and bone metastases."

A Gleason score of 9 (grade 5) indicates that the cancer is likely to grow and spread. Metastasis means that the cancer will spread from the primary site (in this case, the prostate) to other tissues in the body.

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"Although this is an aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be responsive to hormonal therapy, allowing it to be effectively controlled," the office said. "The president and his family are working with doctors to explore possible treatment options."

Biden's family is discussing "several treatment options" with doctors, including hormone therapy, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The 46th president is currently at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, but where exactly he will undergo treatment is still unknown.

“Gleason 9 is by definition aggressive, but you don’t really know how bad it is until you get a PET scan,” said Dr. Alan Tan, chief of urologic oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. He noted that the cancer is not uncommon: “It’s the most common disease I see in my clinical practice all the time — standard urologic oncology.”

Most men with this diagnosis do not die from it. And the fact that Biden's cancer is sensitive to hormone therapy suggests a high probability of successful treatment, experts noted.

Dr. Chris George, a prostate cancer specialist at Northwestern Medicine, said if the treatment is successful, Biden could live for many more years.

President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump were saddened by the news of Biden's diagnosis.
"We send our best wishes to Jill and her entire family. Wishing Joe a speedy and successful recovery," Trump wrote on Truth Social on the evening of May 18.

Kamala Harris, Biden's vice president, said in a post on Platform X that she and her husband, Doug Emhoff, were praying for the Bidens: "Joe is a fighter, and I know he will meet this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that has always defined his life and leadership. We hope for a full and speedy recovery."

The 44th President Barack Obama said he was praying for Biden's full recovery and noted his contribution to the fight against cancer:

"Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family. No one has done more to find effective treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am confident that he will fight this disease with his usual determination and dignity."

About one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. It is a common cancer among older men and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men in the United States, behind only lung cancer.

Biden's press secretary said last week that a "small tumor" in the 46th president's prostate was discovered during a routine physical exam, requiring further testing.

Biden, 82, is the oldest president in US history.

Experts generally do not recommend prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing for men over 70, but it may be warranted in some cases.
“It’s a risk-benefit issue,” said Kavita Patel, a physician who served in the Obama administration. “I’ve personally prescribed and screened 80- and 86-year-olds if they were otherwise healthy or had a family history.”

Democrats have begun to debate whether Biden should have run for reelection in the first place. His entry and withdrawal have sparked sharp divisions in the party over whether his campaign at his age contributed to Trump’s victory in November.

However, immediately after the diagnosis was announced, the party united around Biden, focusing on wishes for a speedy recovery.

"President Joe Biden is a great American patriot. Paul and I join millions across the country and the world in praying for his speedy recovery. Sending love to him and his family," said Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a former House speaker who has been vocal in urging Biden not to seek a second term.

Biden also received words of support from Republicans in Congress, who had previously sought to make his health a central issue in the 2024 presidential campaign.

"I'm sorry to hear this news. Cancer is truly scary. My father died of cancer in 2021," said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who urged supporters to pray for Biden and his family.

During his presidency, Biden sought to prevent millions of cancer deaths. He revived the public-private Cancer Moonshot initiative, which funded research into treatments, expanded free screening programs and, according to the administration, screened nearly 46 million people for prostate, breast, colon, lung, skin and cervical cancer.

At his first event since dropping out of the 2024 race, he announced $150 million in new grants to support research and "the ability to perform successful tumor removal surgeries for cancer patients."

Biden first began overseeing the Cancer Moonshot program in 2016, while he was vice president, about six months after his eldest son, Beau, died of brain cancer.

In 2021, Biden underwent a colonoscopy at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which found and removed "a single, benign-appearing, 3-mm polyp," then-White House physician Kevin O'Connor said.

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O'Connor noted that the polyp was a "slow-growing but potentially precancerous lesion" that did not require further action. Biden had a similar polyp removed in 2008.

Biden's last annual physical as president was in February 2024, when O'Connor described him as "a healthy, active, and vigorous 81-year-old man."

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