Former US President Joe Biden attends a Department of Defense Commander in Chief Farewell Ceremony at Joint Base Myers-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, on January 16, 2025. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt / AFP)
Washington: Former US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer and is reviewing treatment options, a statement from his office said Sunday.
On Friday the 82-year-old Democrat was "diagnosed with prostate cancer ... with metastasis to the bone," the statement said.
"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians."
According to the statement, Biden's cancer was found to have "a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5)."
Prostate cancer that looks "very abnormal" is assigned the highest rating, Grade 5, according to the American Cancer Society. The Gleason Score often indicates the sum of the grades from the two areas in the prostate that make up most of the cancer, but can also be calculated other ways.
Biden left office in January this year as the oldest serving US president in history, and was dogged by questions over his health and age for much of his presidency.
For years he had faced questions, including from Democratic voters, over whether he was too old -- lacking in mental acuity or physical endurance -- for a job as trying as the presidency.
His response to doubters was a brisk: "Watch me."
Biden's life has been marked by personal tragedy. In 1972 his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car crash, days after he had been elected as a US senator at the age of 29.
Biden underwent surgery twice in 1988 for brain aneurysms. In 2023 he had a skin lesion -- a basal cell carcinoma -- removed from his chest. He had previously had non-melanoma skin cancers removed.
Biden's son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.
