What Biden's Cancer Diagnosis Means — A Doctor Breaks It Down With Katie
When I saw my phone blowing up on Sunday afternoon with word that former President Biden had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones, I immediately reached out to my friend Bill Nelson, MD, PhD, DSc, the chair of Stand Up To Cancer's Scientific Advisory Council and an expert on prostate cancer. He's the director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, where he's also a professor of urology, medicine, pathology, and radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences. In other words, Bill knows what he's talking about. We agreed there's much we don't know about the situation, but here are his initial insights about the former president's diagnosis and prognosis.
Dr. Nelson: I feel for anyone who hears the three terrible words 'you have cancer.' Their world, and all of their plans, are turned upside down as they worry instead about what may be in store for them, wondering how the cancer can be treated, how well treatment might work, and what side effects they might confront.
The reports do suggest that he has metastatic prostate cancer, which is a life-threatening condition capable of causing significant bone pain. His doctors may make use of several treatment approaches, particularly lowering the male hormone testosterone and interfering with its propensity to fuel cancer growth and progression, and radiation therapy aimed at sites of disease. Several other treatments can also be used if necessary.
Screening for prostate cancer using blood tests for prostate-specific antigen can save lives, allowing prostate cancer to be diagnosed at an early stage when surgery or radiation therapy are most effective. Most recommendations are that PSA screening be considered only after consultation with a physician about risks and benefits, and if elected, start at age 50 years (or earlier for Black men or men with a family history of prostate cancer).
When to stop screening can be a vexing question. The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends against routine screening of men after age 70 years, but many men and their doctors continue to pursue PSA screening through the 70s and beyond, taking into consideration other health problems, life expectancy, etc.
Finally, even despite a routine screening regimen, particularly aggressive cancers can arise in between planned screening tests.
The Gleason score is assigned by a pathologist who diagnoses prostate cancer by examining prostate biopsy specimens under a microscope. The score (named for a pathologist named Donald Gleason, who worked at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center in the 1960s) ranges from 6 to 10 and reflects the pattern of growth seen by the pathologist, with higher scores indicative of more aggressive cancer behavior.
The side effects associated with antagonizing the actions of the male hormone testosterone include hot flashes, loss of libido, fatigue, diminished muscle mass and strength, osteoporosis, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
The major side effects associated with prostate radiation therapy are a result of damage to nerves that run along the prostate and are responsible for erections, and of damage to the rectum. Prostate surgery, when appropriate, also risks damage to nerves needed for erections, along with risks of urinary incontinence.
From what has been reported, President Biden's prostate cancer can definitely be treated, with the promise of keeping his prostate cancer under control for many months, or hopefully even longer.
Autopsy studies conducted on men dying from other causes suggest that more than half of men harbor cancers in their prostates by the time they get into their 80s. These days, 1 in 8 men receive a diagnosis at some point in their lives, while about 1 in 44 die of the disease.
One of my old mentors, the late Donald Coffey, used to argue that the key screening and diagnosis challenge is to find the aggressively behaving disease, which he called the 'tigers,' early enough to allow treatment for cure, while leaving what he called the 'pussycats' alone. This has been slowly improving: Prostate MRI is now more frequently used to ensure that prostate biopsies are aimed at the more aggressive lesions in the prostate so that they aren't missed.
The post What Biden's Cancer Diagnosis Means — A Doctor Breaks It Down With Katie appeared first on Katie Couric Media.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Long-lasting HIV prevention shot heads toward approval
June 6 (UPI) -- A new vaccine to prevent HIV is expected to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration later this month. If approved, the shot -- lenacapavir -- would be given twice a year and could be a big step forward in the fight against HIV. Drugmaker Gilead Sciences tested the shot in a study of women and girls. None of the participants who received the injections got HIV. That early success helped boost Gilead's stock by 73% over the past year, The Wall Street Journal reported. "We know it's challenging to take a daily pill for prevention, and we see an incredible opportunity here," said Johanna Mercier, Gilead's chief commercial officer Right now, more than 400,000 people in the United States use pills to prevent HIV, The Wall Street Journal added. These medications are referred to as PrEP, short for pre-exposure prophylaxis. Gilead expects the number of users to top 1 million by the next decade. Many people already say they'd prefer a shot over daily pills. In one survey of more than 500 PrEP users, 95% said they would switch to a long-acting injection. Sales of other long-acting options, like the shot Apretude from GSK, have risen sharply - up 63% in the past year. Even with strong results, Gilead faces several hurdles. One is reaching the people who need PrEP the most. Black Americans represent 39% of new HIV cases but only 14% of current PrEP users. Many people still face stigma or lack insurance coverage, which can limit access. Gilead says reaching underserved groups is a top goal. Most current PrEP users have commercial insurance, but Medicaid will be key for expanding access to lower-income communities. Another concern: Some experts worry the new shot may simply replace current Gilead products, like the daily pill Descovy, which now holds about 40% to 45% of the market. But Gilead says the shot should help expand the overall number of people using PrEP in both the U.S. and abroad. "We're thinking globally about the public health impact we can have," Mercier said. The company is working with governments and health groups in the United Kingdom and low-income countries to raise awareness and make these products more available. More information The National Institutes of Health has more on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
3 reasons your Obamacare premiums are going up next year
If you happen to be one of the roughly 24 million people in America who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's marketplaces, you're probably in for some sticker shock next year. Many families could be on the hook for hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of dollars more in premium payments thanks to the expiration of Biden-era coverage subsidies. A little-talked-about change in the GOP's tax bill could also bump up costs by ending a practice among insurers known as 'silver loading,' which juiced the amount of financial help households could qualify for when buying a health plan. Meanwhile, higher premiums and new red tape contained in the GOP's bill are expected to push younger, healthier customers out of the market. As a result, carriers are already signaling their intention to raise their rates by more than usual next year to deal with the cost of a smaller and sicker customer base. Here's what you need to know about the potential triple whammy. The Biden administration temporarily upgraded the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by offering insurance shoppers much larger tax credits to help them buy coverage. Those changes dropped some premiums to zero and decreased out-of-pocket costs for lower-income families, and for the first time, capped monthly payments for households earning more than 400% of the poverty line, limiting costs to 8.5% of their income. The enhanced insurance subsidies are set to expire next year, which means premiums will spike. As the Urban Institute calculated last year, that could leave some lower-income households paying 80% more. People with incomes above 400% of the poverty line — $62,000 for an individual, or $128,000 for a family of four — will no longer receive any help. This year, that would have meant paying an extra $2,900, according to Urban's calculations. These changes are going to be particularly important for freelancers and small-business owners who tend to rely on the individual insurance market, as well as service industry workers who don't receive health coverage through their jobs. For most of this past decade, many marketplace customers have been able to get a free bronze plan or very cheap gold-level coverage courtesy of a quirk that developed after Trump tried to cut funding to Obamacare during his first term. Those days will likely soon be over, thanks to the new tax bill. The backstory is a bit technical: Under the ACA, lower-income households who buy coverage from the marketplace get big discounts that shrink their out-of-pocket expenses like copays and deductibles. The federal government was supposed to pay insurers directly to cover these so-called 'cost-sharing reductions.' But Trump cut off that flow of payments in 2017, seizing on what was essentially a legal hole in the Affordable Care Act after Republicans failed to repeal the statute. The president's move was expected to seriously weaken the markets. Instead, states and insurers found a workaround known as silver loading that made coverage cheaper for many Americans while adding to the federal government's expense. Rather than try to make up for the lost payments by upping the prices of all of their health plans, carriers only increased the cost of the silver plans that are used to calculate the value of the tax credits enrollees could receive. This allowed insurers to recoup their costs and increased the subsidies that households were eligible for, with the side effect that people could suddenly get free bronze or cheaper gold insurance. As part of their tax and spending bill, Republicans are planning to save some money by restoring the old cost-sharing reduction payments. In essence, they'll be restoring this aspect of the Affordable Care Act to how it was originally supposed to work, but it will also make the law's tax credits a bit less generous and kill the option of buying those super-cheap bronze or gold plans. By subscribing, you are agreeing to Yahoo's Terms and Privacy Policy The coming cuts to Obamacare's subsidies are expected to lead many young and healthier enrollees to drop their coverage. The same goes for parts of the GOP bill that will likely make buying and maintaining ACA coverage more difficult, such as ending the ability to automatically re-enroll in your health plan from year to year. As a result, experts anticipate that insurers will have to increase the unsubsidized price of coverage by more than usual this coming year, since older, sicker patients cost more to insure. Already, there are signs of that happening. According to a review by the think tank KFF, insurers in Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Washington, D.C., are requesting an additional 4% increase in their rates for next year, specifically because they expect the market to shrink when Biden's enhanced subsidies expire. Those price hikes won't affect households that get subsidized coverage, which caps their premium payments at a share of their income. But they will be felt by households that earn above 400% of the poverty mark, since they'll no longer receive tax credits. If you're middle-income and self-employed, be prepared for a big pop in your insurance bill. Jordan Weissmann is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Miami Herald
12 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Changemakers and moneymakers: Nonprofits meet with funders for community change
Ashley Eubanks Johnson never imagined she would find her calling on a highway off-ramp. While commuting home from work one evening in 2016, a homeless woman weaved through cars at a Pompano Beach stoplight to ask for change, her pants stained with blood due to her period. 'That really shocked me because the area we were in was down the street from a shelter,' admitted a now-38-year-old Eubanks Johnson. '[I] started calling around to different shelters, facilities and organizations that serve those that are unhoused and found little to no help or refuge for menstruators in need.' Shortly after, she took the money set aside for her 30th birthday trip to Jamaica and kickstarted The Beauty Initiative, a nonprofit that donates hygiene essentials like pads and tampons to women and girls in need. READ MORE: Nonprofit provides homeless women with help — and free sanitary hygiene items In the years since, Eubanks Johnson has revolutionized period-care awareness in greater Miami, touting her nonprofit's donation of 77,000 menstrual-care products to Miami-Dade County and Broward County schools this academic year, but the road to success has been bumpy. She has had to juggle her day job as a community liaison and database administrator for Broward County Public Schools alongside her community work for nearly a decade, occasionally dipping into her own paychecks to support the cause. 'I've done this work for almost nine years with no money, my money, and now some sponsorship money,' shares the Beauty Initiative CEO. Neglecting local grassroots nonprofits is an oversight that the world of philanthropy and one Miami-based organization are hoping to remedy. Changemakers and moneymakers A self-professed 'social impact accelerator,' Radical Partners' mission is to equip South Florida changemakers with the skills and funds needed to run a nonprofit and deploy them into their communities. The organization, which was established in 2012, pushes professional development and organizational management as part of the solution through initiatives such as Leadership Labs, a five-month program tailored to leaders who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color. The other part of the solution? Rubbing elbows with moneymakers. In a Neighborhood Heroes Connect conference hosted by Radical Partners at the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami on June 5, The Beauty Initiative and other nonprofits met with JPMorgan Chase, TD Bank and other corporations to discuss the gaps in grassroots-nonprofit financing. Study findings released at the conference on the impact of Leadership Labs, whose curriculum promises networking opportunities with leaders in the nonprofit, for-profit and political sectors, revealed that the relationship between those funded and those funding is interdependent. Results from a survey conducted by Radical Partners showed that the improvements that nonprofits sought most aligned with what funders hoped to invest in. While most surveyed organizations reported fundraising, grant-writing help and optimized operational systems among their highest needs, funders reported innovative fundraising efforts and strong daily operations as the most attractive qualities when considering which groups to finance. 'There are things that you can achieve at a neighborhood level, where there's more trust and where, culturally, people understand the individuals they're working with,' said Ana Castillo, TD Bank's Florida regional community development manager. Castillo leverages her role to give marginalized communities in South Florida more access to traditional banking so they don't have to resort to risky financial moves such as payday loans. She says TD Bank's mission is accomplished, in part, by funding local organizations that understand their underserved neighborhoods best. Meanwhile, nonprofits such as the Foot Forward Foundation, founded by Broward-based Christopher Sisco and Maurizo Raponi, benefit from the spotlight that tends to follow funders. '[We want] just a little bit of visibility,' said Sisco, 41, who began the initiative in 2022 by handing out shoes from his own 'sneakerhead' collection to homeless people. The nonprofit has since expanded to serve low-income students and has launched six shoe-donation campaigns at schools across Broward and Miami-Dade in the past 18 months. 'We do what we do because we enjoy doing it, but [we hope] for more people with big pockets to see what Foot Forward is doing.' Creative solutions Championing collaboration between funders and nonprofit leaders, Radical Partners CEO Joana Godoy proposes what her organization calls 'creative solutions' to long-standing obstacles in the nonprofit sector. To alleviate the disparity between funders' donation caps and nonprofits' need for resources, Godoy suggests nonprofits share services and spaces — such as collectively pitching in for an accountant or having joint office areas — to spur teamwork while cutting costs. How to streamline administrative work when short-staffed? She recommends nonprofits look to how the business world has used artificial intelligence. 'We might die trying [to implement these solutions alone],' urged Godoy. 'So what we're offering here is, instead of putting everything on [ourselves], meaning 'my team, my organization, my funders,' for us to approach it as an ecosystem.' It's an outlook that changemakers such as Eubanks Johnson, who graduated from Leadership Labs' third cohort in 2019, have already begun to adopt and benefit from. '[Radical Partners gives] us the tools we need to lead, connects us with a community of trusted collaborators and . . . [helped me] lean into my gifts and trust myself,' shared Eubanks Johnson. 'With doing that, I was able to center my work in service with so many others.'
