Biden’s prostate cancer: What happened, how serious is Gleason score 9?

Biden, 82, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer in US males. He was diagnosed on Friday after doctors discovered a nodule on his prostate, his office said in a statement released on Sunday. The cancer had “a Gleason score of nine (Grade Group 5)” on a scale that goes up to 10, signifying that Biden’s cancer is highly aggressive. The exact causes remain unclear, some evidence suggests that a diet high in fat could be a contributing factor. A hormone-sensitive prostate cancer needs androgens, a group of male sex hormones, to grow – most of which are made in the testicles. The American Cancer Society notes this specific type of prostate cancer can be treated using androgen deprivation therapy, which reduces the level of androgens to “stop them from fuelling prostate cancer cell growth” The five-year survival rate for prostate cancer is nearly 100 percent after diagnosis but drops to 28 percent if the cancer has metastasised as it has done in Biden’s case.

Source: Aljazeera.com  |  Read full article