Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, and he is reviewing treatment options with his doctors, his office said on Sunday.
When caught early, prostate cancer is highly survivable, but it is also the second-leading cause of cancer death in men in the US. About one in eight men will be diagnosed over their lifetime with prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Meanwhile, in the European Union, prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis for men, affecting about 330,000 men.
Here are some things to know about prostate cancer that has spread.
What is the prostate gland?
The prostate is part of the reproductive system in men. It makes fluid for semen. It’s located below the bladder and it wraps around the urethra, the tube that carries urine and semen out through the penis.
What are the symptoms of prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer usually does not cause symptoms until it has grown large enough to put pressure on the urethra, according to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS).
Symptoms can include needing to urinate more often, difficulty beginning to urinate, having a weak flow, or finding blood in urine or semen.
Biden reported increasing urinary symptoms, and was seen last week by doctors who found a prostate nodule.
How serious is Biden’s cancer?
Biden was diagnosed on Friday with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to the bone, his office said in a statement. That makes it more serious than localised or early-stage prostate cancer.
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 in the US.
"It’s very treatable, but not curable," Smith said.
What are the treatment options?
When prostate cancers need hormones to grow, as in Biden’s case, they can be treated with drugs that lower levels of hormones in the body or stop them from getting into prostate cancer cells.
The drugs can slow down the growth of cancer cells.
"Most men in this situation would be treated with drugs and would not be advised to have either surgery or radiation therapy," Smith said.
What is a Gleason score?
Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what is known as a Gleason score. The scores range from six to 10, with eight, nine, and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively.
Biden’s office said his score was nine, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.
