Former U.S. President Joe Biden has announced he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. His team said the he had a gleason score of 9, and that it had spread to his bones. There is hope that the cancer is promoted by hormone presence and that it will respond to androgen treatment.

This is an example of the problem with late diagnosis. We might expect a U.S. President to have regular health checks, including PSA, Prostate exam and MRI checks. If he did and nothing was found, then the cancer has onset very quickly, and the prognosis is poor. It underlines the need for every man to get routine testing for prostate cancer, no matter his station or apparent state of health, and presses the need even further for better diagnostics, early treatment and research into prevention.