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Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

Biden, 82, is reviewing treatment options with his physicians, as the cancer is hormone-sensitive.

The announcement follows concerns over Biden’s age and abilities, after he withdrew from the 2024 race.

Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, and is reviewing treatment options, a statement from his office said.

On Friday (local time) the 82-year-old Democrat was diagnosed with the cancer after he experienced increasing urinary symptoms and was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule, the statement said.

“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians,” it continued.

Cancer cells are commonly found in the prostates of men of ‘s age, though in most cases they grow slowly. Hormone therapy is a common treatment that can shrink tumours and slow , but is not a cure.

According to the statement, Biden’s cancer was found to have “a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5)”.

Prostate cancer that looks “very abnormal” is assigned the highest rating, Grade 5, according to the American Cancer Society. The Gleason Score often indicates the sum of the grades from the two areas in the prostate that make up most of the cancer, but can also be calculated other ways.

US President Donald Trump shared on his social media platform Truth Social that he and Melania were “saddened” to hear about Biden’s diagnosis.

“We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”

Biden left office in January this year as the oldest serving US President in history, and was dogged by questions over his health and age for much of his presidency.

For years he had faced questions, including from Democratic voters, over whether he was too old – lacking in mental acuity or physical endurance – for a job as trying as the presidency.

His response to doubters was a brisk: “Watch me.”

But in  he was forced to drop his reelection bid after a disastrous debate against Republican Donald Trump in which fears about his decline and cognitive abilities came surging to the fore.

His Vice President, , eventually lost to .

Biden maintains that he could have won the election, but questions have long swirled over the responses of staff and key Democrats to evident signs of his decline.

They have flared with the release, set for this Tuesday, of Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by CNN journalist Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of Axios.

Last week a newly published recording of Biden speaking hesitantly and struggling to remember key events and dates fuelled renewed debate over his mental capabilities while still in office.

Biden’s life has been marked by personal tragedy. In 1972 his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car crash, days after he had been elected as a US senator at the age of 29.

Biden underwent surgery twice in 1988 for brain aneurysms. In 2023 he had a skin lesion – a basal cell carcinoma – removed from his chest. He had previously had non-melanoma skin cancers removed.

Biden’s son Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.

The Cancer Society NZ says the Gleason scoring system grades cancer cells taken during a biopsy.

The prostate cancer is given a Gleason score from six to 10. The higher the score the more likely the cancer cells are to spread through the body.

- Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting by NZ Herald