Biden Starts Five-Week Radiation for Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Former president Joe Biden has begun a five week course of radiation therapy and continued hormone treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer that was diagnosed in May and has spread to his bones, his office said Saturday. The 82 year old, who disclosed the diagnosis in May after a routine physical, is receiving the treatment at an unspecified medical facility and is reported to be doing well, a spokesperson said.

Biden first announced the diagnosis in May, saying doctors found a small prostate nodule that subsequent testing showed to be high grade and metastatic. His medical team described the cancer as Gleason score 9, Grade Group 5, and said it had spread to bone. According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 indicates cancer cells that look very abnormal and that the disease is likely to grow more quickly than lower grade tumors. His office has said the cancer is hormone sensitive, and he had already been taking hormone medication in pill form prior to beginning the radiation regimen.

The radiation treatment, combined with hormone therapy, is intended as part of an overall management plan for the disease, his spokesperson said. The regimen is expected to run...