Welcome to the NewsHour. We begin tonight with a closer look at the announcement that former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for the 82-year-old said the cancer had spread to his bones.

Today, Mr. Biden posted on social media, saying, quote, cancer touches us all.

Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.

Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S.

For more insight, I spoke earlier today with Dr. J. Rahman, chair of the Department of Urology at

Penn State Health. Dr. Raman, welcome back to the News Hour. Thank you. Glad to be here.

That Biden's form of cancer is described as aggressive in having spread to the bone, what does that

mean for an 82-year-old? Well, there are different types of prostate

cancer. I often think about it as being sort of a heterogeneous or a mixed bag. Some are slow

growing and some are more aggressive and fast growing. And those are the kind that have the potential

to not only grow within the prostate, but spread to the lymph nodes, liver, and in this case,

for example, the bone.

One of the great things about prostate cancer is that it's one of the most treatable cancers,

even in this diagnosis, a stage four cancer. And so even for an 82-year-old, there are plenty of treatment options. Well, tell us more about those treatment options, including hormonal treatments,

because the statement

that President Biden's office released yesterday said that his cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive,

which allows for effective management.

Well, prostate cancer is a hormone-sensitive cancer.

What that means is that the food supply for prostate cancer is testosterone and male androgens. So when we talk

about hormone suppression as being a treatment, that basically means lowering the testosterone and

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