Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has a five-year survival rate of between 30% and 40%.
The former president’s prostate cancer is characterized by a Gleason score of 9 and Grade Group 5 with bone metastasis, indicating that it is “pretty far advanced,” Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel said on ‘Fox Report.’
“It’s the most aggressive type,” Siegel said. “That means it has the highest risk of spread — which obviously he has had.”
Biden is also presenting with urinary symptoms, which is another sign that the cancer is advanced. Prostate cancer often presents as asymptomatic in its early stages, he said.
“This was found by physical examination by a prostate exam,” Siegel said. “A lot of times we find an elevation in prostate-specific antigen, PSA, and then we go after it… I mean, he must have had the best possible care here. I’m a little taken aback that it’s this far advanced.”
Siegel said he conducts a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test on every male over the age of 45 years old. The test measures how much PSA is in the blood and is primarily used to screen for prostate cancer, according to Mayo Clinic.
While the PSA test is not always a perfect indicator of prostate cancer, someone who has a rise in PSA automatically gets an MRI, Siegel said. After the MRI, a decision is made about whether to conduct a biopsy.
More than 80% of men over the age of 80 years old have some prostate cancer cells in their body, according to Siegel.
“It would be really surprising if they weren’t doing a very close screening on this because everybody knows in the medical community that this is the one cancer in men you really look out for,” he said. “… He doesn’t seem to have a lot of risk factors that I would think about other than age, but age is enough and he’s 82, so that’s a big risk factor.”
Doctors will likely treat Biden with hormone therapy, Siegel said. They may also attempt to radiate the lesion found on the bone or remove the prostate altogether.
“Sometimes they decide to do more than one therapy,” Siegel said. “They might try to take the prostate out, do radiation and the hormone therapy altogether. That’s not uncommon.”
There are two types of medications used to treat this type of advanced prostate cancer — Lupron, which stops testosterone production, and Casodex, which stops testosterone from binding. Side effects of the medication can leave people feeling “fatigued and listless,” according to Siegel.
“The other thing I’m concerned about is bone pain, because those metastases to the bone can be pretty painful,” he said.
If the cancer is caught early while its still localized to the prostate gland, it’s curable “most of the time,” Siegel said.
“The goal is to get it before it leaves the prostate,” Siegel said. “When it’s left the prostate, it becomes much more difficult to cure.”
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