WASHINGTON — Joe Biden was never diagnosed with prostate cancer until last week, and the last time he was screened for it was more than a decade ago, a spokesperson for the former president said Tuesday.
“President Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014. Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,” the spokesperson said.
Screening for prostate cancer often involves a prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, test, which measures the level of protein produced by the prostate and could indicate potential disease. The test has a high proportion of false positives, and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does not recommend it for men 70 and older since they are more likely to die of other medical conditions than prostate cancer.
Biden, 82, had his last PSA 11 years ago.
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In recent years, doctors have increasingly begun screening for the disease in older patients. President Donald Trump, 78, received a PSA screening as recently as this year, according to medical records released by the White House.
Since he revealed his diagnosis Sunday, Biden has faced scrutiny over whether the cancer had grown recently or whether it could have gone undiagnosed during his time as president.
A diagnosis of prostate cancer so advanced is rare but not unheard of, according to doctors who treat it. Biden’s cancer has advanced to an aggressive form, with medical experts saying it is treatable but not curable.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who did not treat Biden but served on his transition Covid advisory board, said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the cancer had most likely been “growing there and spreading” for years. Dr. William Dahut, chief scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, told NBC News that in Biden’s case, “we definitely would anticipate that he has had prostate cancer for many, many years.”
Still, there are exceptions — and some doctors have said that in rare cases patients can develop a high-risk form of the cancer that spreads quickly and aggressively.