Ex-US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer. How serious is it?

Many were left shocked by the news that ex-US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer.

Biden, 82, after all ran for re-election last year – before dropping out in favour of Kamala Harris, who ultimately lost to Donald Trump.

Questions are now being asked about Biden was first diagnosed and if he waited too long to drop out.

But what do we know about Biden’s diagnosis? How bad is it?

What do we know?

Biden’s office said he first experienced urinary symptoms.

He was then diagnosed with prostate cancer which has spread to the bones.

As per the American Cancer Society, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men.

It is particularly found in the elderly.

Research shows around 80 percent of men over 80 have some cancerous cells in their prostate gland.

Though it remains the second leading cause of cancer death in men, prostate cancer is highly treatable if discovered early.

Unfortunately, Biden’s prostate cancer has spread to his bones – it has metastasised.

The cancer is also thought to be extremely aggressive – ranking nine out of a possible 10 on the Gleason score, which ranks the aggressiveness of the disease.

Doctors determine this through biopsies of the prostate.

A Gleason score of nine “means that the cells look very abnormal and the cancer is likely to grow quickly”, Justin Stebbing, a cancer researcher at the UK’s Anglia Ruskin University said.

What about the treatment?

Much remains unknown about Biden’s condition.

Experts say they can only make a general estimate.

At first glance, the statistics are good.

Around 97 per cent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer are still alive five years later.

Unfortunately, that rate drops to 28-33 percent when the cancer has spread to their bones, Stebbing added.

“Metastatic prostate cannot be cured,” oncologist Natacha Naoun of France’s Gustave-Roussy Institute said. “But treatment can increase life expectancy.”

Biden’s statement said he is reviewing treatment options, adding that his cancer appears to be “hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management”.

Stebbing said that drugs that reduce hormones such as testosterone can temporarily control the disease.

But after two or three years, “hormonal therapy stops working, and we need to think about other treatments”, he added.

Chemotherapy is often an option in such cases but could pose a serious risk for a patient in his 80s.

“Maybe he’s not strong enough to withstand that, or has other conditions, but this is pure speculation,” Stebbing said.

Radiation therapy or surgery are other potential treatment options, depending on the nature of the cancer.

Why did it take so long to find?

The potential political fallout could be deadly.

Biden’s health was already under the scanner after a new book outlined his declining health as he campaigned for a second presidential term against Trump last year.

The revelation of such an advanced cancer in a man under such close medical scrutiny has raised the question: could signs of this disease have been detected earlier?

“Not necessarily,” Stebbing said.

“Without more details, it’s impossible to say… certainly a lot can happen with this type of prostate cancer in a year,” he added.

Biden withdrew his re-election bid in July last year in favour of Harris.

He left the White House in January after she was defeated and Trump was sworn in.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that it was an aggressive form that developed quickly,” Naoun said.

But prostate cancer is normally diagnosed earlier, she added.

“Only 10 percent of prostate cancers are diagnosed” at this metastatic stage, Naoun said.