Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with a “more aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, his office announced Sunday.
Biden, 82, was seen by a doctor last week over a new prostate nodule that was found after he experienced increasing urinary symptoms, according to 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,” the statement read. “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
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The Gleason score measures how aggressive a patient’s prostate cancer is. A higher score—one that falls between 8 and 10—means the cancer is aggressive and more likely to spread at a fast pace, according to the Virginia Oncology Associates.
The Biden family is reviewing treatment options with his doctors.
President Donald Trump sent his well wishes to Biden in a surprisingly conciliatory Truth Social post on Sunday.
“Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis,” he wrote. “We wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”
Biden was in Philadelphia last week for a routine physical exam when a “small nodule” was discovered on his prostate that “necessitated further evaluation,” his office said at the time.
In 2023, Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest that a biopsy later revealed to be basal cell carcinoma, a common and easily treatable form of skin cancer. It was successfully removed and no further treatment was needed.
Then-White House physician Kevin O’Connor described Biden as “healthy, vigorous” and “fit” to lead the country following the procedure.
Skin cancer and prostate cancer are the two most common forms of the disease in American men, according to the American Cancer Society.
Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in American men, after lung cancer.
Biden’s eldest son, Beau, succumbed to a rare and lethal form of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46. The following year, then-Vice President Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot initiative to accelerate the development of cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
The program was relaunched by the White House in 2022 after Biden became president. Its mission was to slash the cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years and to improve the lives of people and their families living with cancer.
Biden, the oldest-serving president in American history, has long been hounded with questions surrounding his age and health.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson revealed in their forthcoming book, Original Sin, that Biden’s staff became so concerned about his “physical deterioration” that they considered putting him in a wheelchair—but they couldn’t do it until after the election.
In response to the anecdote, a Biden spokesperson told Axios that “evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.”
But Axios later released excerpts of a six-hour audio recording of Biden’s 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur where he repeatedly struggled to recall key dates, slurred his speech, and fumbled through long silences.
In a joint appearance on The View with his wife Jill last week, Biden personally brushed off concerns that his mental acuity had declined dramatically in his final year in office.
“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” he said, before launching into a mumbling response that prompted his wife to jump in.
“Being president is not like a job. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a life that you live,” Jill said. “You live it 24 hours a day—that phone can ring at 11 o’clock at night or two in the morning. It’s constant. You never leave it. And Joe worked really hard. I think he was a great president.”
