Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his personal office announced Sunday.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” his personal office said in a statement. “On Friday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.”
Metastasis means the cancer has spread from its primary site (in Biden’s cancer, the prostate) to other tissue in the body.
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“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 spokesperson for Biden’s office did not have any additional comment.
Biden and his family are meeting with doctors and considering “multiple treatment options,” including hormone treatment, according to a source familiar with Biden’s and his family’s thinking.
Biden is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the source said, but it is unclear where he will receive treatment.
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Biden’s Gleason score of 9 (Group grade 5) 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,” said Dr. Alan Tan, genitourinary section lead at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Tan is not involved with Biden’s case.
Tan said that this 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.”
Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not die of it. And that Biden’s cancer is hormone-sensitive suggests he will respond to treatment, experts said.
Dr. Chris George, a prostate cancer specialist at Northwestern Medicine who is not involved with Biden’s case, said that if Biden responds to treatment, he could live for years as the treatment keeps the disease in check.
President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump were “saddened to hear about” Biden’s diagnosis.
“We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said she and former second gentleman Doug Emhoff are keeping the former first couple “in our hearts and prayers.”
“Joe is a fighter — and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. We are hopeful for a full and speedy recovery,” Harris wrote on X.
Former 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.
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.