Time: How Doctors Treat Aggressive Prostate Cancer Like Joe Biden’s
Time and LAist program AirTalk recently interviewed several Cedars-Sinai oncology experts about prostate cancer screening and treatment in the wake of former President Joe Biden's recent diagnosis.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, and the risk increases with age.
Leslie Ballas, MD, a radiation oncologist at Cedars-Sinai, told AirTalk host Larry Mantle that the National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends men ages 45 to 75 get a screening every two to four years. But these are not fixed guidelines.
“Many patients do not cease screening, and many physicians do not cease screening just because a patient's age is 75. Other things get taken into account—such as how healthy a man is, what their predicted life expectancy is—so I don't think that we should look at it as an absolute cutoff, but more of something you should discuss with your physician,” Ballas said.
Robert Figlin, MD, interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer, told Time that although prostate cancer is known for being slow growing, Biden’s “aggressive” state is not uncommon.
“This is certainly something that can occur in the course of a male’s life—it’s not unusual to present in this way,” Figlin, professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said.
Treatments for advanced prostate cancer include surgery, radiation, hormone-suppressing therapy or chemotherapy. Because Biden’s cancer has metastasized to his bones, chemotherapy should be considered, said Timothy Daskivich, MD, assistant professor and director of Urologic Oncology Research for the Department of Urology at Cedars-Sinai.
“One of the most important questions for patients with newly diagnosed metastatic disease would need to answer is whether they need docetaxel chemotherapy in addition to [hormone suppressing] therapy,” Daskivich told Time.
Biden’s medical team has said his cancer is “hormone-sensitive” but has not determined his treatment plan.
Click here to read the complete article from Time and click here to listen to the entire segment of AirTalk.