There's really no way to tell when former President Joe Biden's prostate cancer developed, says Dr. Daniel Petrylak, a professor of medicine and medical urology at Yale School of Medicine.
"Generally, for a patient in his 80s, it's controversial as to how frequently they should receive a PSA and how often they should be screened," Petrylak told Newsmax's "Newsline."
"But it's my belief that early detection saves lives. This is a PSA and a rectal exam. Now there's some patients that do develop prostate cancer with low PSA values. And it only can be detected on rectal exams. So, I can't really comment on this case and really determine exactly when the president had developed prostate cancer without really a clear review of his medical records," he added.
Biden's diagnosis was announced Sunday. The finding came after the 82-year-old reported urinary symptoms, which led doctors to discover a nodule on his prostate. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells having spread to the bone.
Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what's known as a Gleason score. The scores range from 6 to 10, with 8, 9, and 10 prostate cancers behaving more aggressively. Biden's office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.
Petrylak said prostate cancer growth is stimulated by testosterone, "and the standard treatment is to give an injection that will lower testosterone levels.
"There's also a pill that can block the binding of testosterone to its target," he told Newsmax.
"So that's the minimum treatment he should be undergoing at this particular point, whether he should have chemotherapy added at this particular time, I think is a function of his overall physical status and the extent of disease on his imaging.
"Namely, they would do a scan to see how extensive the bone disease is. I think from reading the reports, he had spread to the bone, but we don't know how how extensive it is at this particular point. So. it's going to require at minimum hormone therapy."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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