JOE Biden likely had cancer at the start of his presidency in 2021, a leading oncologist has claimed.
Dr Zeke Emanuel made the bombshell claim to Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough on Monday.
“He had it while he was President,” he said. “He probably had it at the start of his presidency, in 2021.”
He questioned how such an advanced form of prostate cancer had flown under the radar until now.
Dr Emanuel was previously appointed to a 16-person COVID advisory board by President Biden.
The 82-year-old former president was seen by his doctors last week where a prostate nodule was found after urinary symptoms.
The cancer has reportedly spread to Biden’s bones.
“He’s had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading,” Dr Emanuel alleged.
“That’s right. It’s a little surprising,” he added, to the visible scepticism of his host.
He went on: “I looked back at the records and there’s no evidence that when he got his health status and the medical records were released, that he had a prostate specific antigen.
“Now, it is true that a lot of people recommend not doing a prostate-specific antigen after 70.
“But President Biden’s been in public life a very long time. He was vice president and had a lot of exams under 70. So it’s a little surprising that they didn’t do it.”
What are the symptoms every man needs to know?
In most cases, prostate cancer doesn’t have any symptoms until the growth is big enough to put pressure on the urethra – that tube you pee through.
Symptoms include:
- Needing to urinate more often, especially at night
- Needing to rush to the toilet
- Difficulty in starting to pee
- Weak flow
- Straining and taking a long time while peeing
- Feeling that your bladder hasn’t emptied fully
Many men’s prostates get larger as they age because of the non-cancerous conditions, prostate enlargement, and benign prostatic hyperplasia.
In fact, these two conditions are more common than prostate cancer – but that doesn’t mean the symptoms should be ignored.
The signs that cancer has SPREAD include bone, back, or testicular pain, loss of appetite, and unexplained weight loss.
But he added: “And maybe President Biden decided he didn’t want the test. Many men do decide they don’t want [it], but this is also aggressive.”
He further pointed to Biden’s Gleason score of nine – a scale on which the highest score is 10 – to highlight how advanced the cancer likely is.
“And that means that the cancer doesn’t look normal, it looks very abnormal – which is probably why it’s in the bone.”
Dr Emanuel added it is a “little surprising to many of us oncologists that he wasn’t diagnosed earlier”.
A spokesperson for the former president said: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“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.”
Biden was 78 years old when he was sworn in as president in 2021 – at the time making him the oldest person to assume the office.
Throughout his presidency, he faced repeated questions about his health and fitness to serve in office – concerns that intensified after he announced his bid for re-election.
But he dropped out of the race after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
How could prostate cancer be missed?
By Sam Blanchard
It is likely that Joe Biden’s cancer started while he was still serving as president – as recently as January – but impossible to know how long he has had it.
Prostate cancer is widely regarded as the slowest growing form of cancer because it can take years for any sign of it to appear and many men never need treatment.
The former president’s office said his cancer is aggressive and has spread to his bones, further confusing the timeline.
PSA blood tests could indicate whether a patient is likely to have cancer but they become less accurate with age, and gold-standard tests involve taking biopsy tissue samples.
There is no guarantee that Mr Biden, 82, was tested during his presidency and, even if he was, the cancer is not certain to have been detected. It may have first formed a long time ago and only recently become aggressive, or started recently and grown very quickly.
Most cancers are found before they spread but a fast-growing one may be harder to catch in time.
Prostate cancers are well-known for not causing many symptoms in the early stages and the NHS says “there may be no signs for many years”.
The time it takes for a cancer to progress to stage four – known as metastatic, when it has spread to another body part – can vary from a number of months to many years.
Professor Suneil Jain, from Queen’s University Belfast, said: “Every prostate cancer is different and no-one from outside his direct team will have all the information to be specific about President Biden’s specific diagnosis or situation.
“In recent years there has been a lot of progress in the management of prostate cancer, with many new therapies becoming available.
“This has significantly extended the average life expectancy by a number of years.”
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in males and one in eight men develop it at some stage in their life.
Well-wishes for President Biden have flooded in since the announcement of his diagnosis.
Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as Vice President, said: “Michelle and I are thinking of the entire Biden family.
“Nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe, and I am certain he will fight this challenge with his trademark resolve and grace.
“We pray for a fast and full recovery.”
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14271623/biden-likely-cancer-entire-presidency/