025年5月20日, President Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. It’s the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S. For more insight, Geoff Bennett spoke with Dr. Jay Raman, chair of the Department of Urology at Penn State Health.
YouTube Transcript:
Amna: Welcome to the “News hour.” 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 “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.”
阿姆納:歡迎來到「新聞時間」。 今晚，我們首先仔細研究前總統喬·拜登被診斷出患有激進性前列腺癌的公告。 昨天，這位82歲的老人的發言人表示，癌症已經擴散到他的骨頭。今天，拜登在社交媒體上說：「癌症影響著我們所有人。 和你們許多人一樣，Jill和我瞭解到，我們在最堅困的時候是最堅強的。 謝謝你用愛和支持來鼓舞我們。」
Geoff: 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 with Dr. Jay Raman, chair of the department of urology at Penn state health.
傑夫：前列腺癌是最常見的癌症，也是美國男性癌症死亡的第二大原因。為了獲得更多見解，我早些時候與賓夕法尼亞州衛生部泌尿外科主任傑伊·拉曼博士進行了交談。
Dr. Raman, welcome back to the “News hour”. Biden’s form of cancer is described as aggressive and having spread to the bone. What does that mean for an 82-year-old?
拉曼博士，歡迎回到「新聞時間」。 拜登的癌症形式被描述為侵襲性並擴散到骨骼。 這對一個82歲的老人來說意味著什麼？
Dr. Raman: I often think of Prostate cancer as being a heterogeneous or mixed bag. Some are slow-growing and some are more aggressive and fast growing and those of the kind that have the potential to not only grow within the prostate but spread to lymph nodes, liver, and in this case the bone. One of the good things about prostate is it is one of the most treatable cancers even in this diagnosis, stage four. Even for an 82-year-old there are plenty of options.
拉曼博士：我經常認為前列腺癌是異質的或混合的。 有些生長緩慢，有些更激進和快速生長，那些不僅有可能在前列腺內生長，而且有可能擴散到淋巴結、肝臟，在這種情況下還有骨骼。前列腺的一個好處是，即使在這種診斷中，它是最容易治療的癌症之一，第四期。 即使對於一個82歲的老人來說，也有很多選擇治療方案。
Geoff: Tell us more about the treatment options including hormonal treatment because the statement that president Biden’s office released yesterday said his cancer appears to be hormone sensitive.
傑夫：告訴我們更多關於治療方案，包括荷爾蒙治療，因為拜登總統辦公室昨天發表的宣告稱，他的癌症似乎對荷爾蒙敏感。
Dr. Raman: Prostate cancer is a hormone sensitive cancer which means the food supply for prostate cancer is testosterone. So when we talk about hormone suppression as being a treatment that basically means lowering the testosterone and androgen levels in the body and that will start to starve some of the prostate cancer cells and treat these kind of metastasis. One of the things that has happened the last 10 to 15 years is an explosion in the ability to have different combinations of drugs and therapies all of which target those hormonal axis.
Raman博士：前列腺癌是一種對激素敏感的癌症，這意味著前列腺癌的食物供應是睪丸激素。 因此，當我們談論激素抑制作為一種治療方法時，基本上意味著降低體內的睪丸激素和雄激素水準，這將開始餓死一些前列腺癌細胞並治療這種轉移。 過去10到15年發生的一件事是，針對這些激素軸的不同藥物和療法組合的能力激增。
Geoff: There is also the question of why this disease was detected so late especially for someone who has state-of-the-art care. What questions does this raise for you?
傑夫：還有一個問題，為什麼這種疾病發現得這麼晚，特別是對於擁有最先進護理看護的總統來說。 這給你提出了什麼問題？
Dr. Raman: Well, to be perfectly honest if we look at national screening guidelines for example from the American neurological association, screening guidelines recommend screening between the ages of 45 to 50 all the way up to about 70 years of age. Certainly when you get old men who are in their upper 70’s and even 80 years of age, routine screening is not recommended. It is possible these men may die of another cause other than prostate cancer. Although president Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer I would not necessarily say it was due to lack of screening. It was perhaps purposeful given his age and life expectancy.
拉曼博士：好吧，老實說，如果我們看一下美國神經學協會的國家篩查指南，篩查指南建議從45歲到50歲到70歲左右進行篩查。 當然，當你有70多歲甚至80歲的老人時，不建議進行常規篩查。 這些男人可能死於前列腺癌以外的其他原因。 雖然拜登總統被診斷出患有侵襲性前列腺癌，但我並不一定說這是因為缺乏篩查。 考慮到他的年齡和預期壽命，這也許是正常的。
Geoff: In 2014 routine annual testing was scaled back and that meant fewer people are now getting screened. Was that a smart move and what should men be doing to make sure they are getting properly screened?
傑夫：2014年，常規年度身體健康檢查項目被縮減，這意味著現在接受篩查的人越來越少。 這是明智的舉動嗎？男人應該做什麼來確保他們得到適當的篩查？
Dr. Raman: When prostate cancer is diagnosed early it is one of the most treatable and curable cancers. And so it is very important that men be very proactive about their care. One of the easiest ways to screen for prostate cancer is a blood test and in general we recommend men have their initial test between 45 and 50 years of age and then be checked every two to four years. The reality is that when we identify cancer in an early stage it is highly treatable and if we don’t we may run into scenarios where the disease has progressed or even spread at the time of diagnosis.
拉曼博士：當前列腺癌被早期診斷時，它是最容易治療和治癒的癌症之一。 因此，男性非常積極主動地照顧他們，這一點非常重要。 前列腺癌篩查最簡單的方法之一是血液測試，一般來說，我們建議男性在45至50歲之間進行初始測試，然後每兩到四年進行一次檢查。 現實情況是，當我們在早期階段發現癌症時，它是高度可治療的，如果我們不這樣做，我們可能會遇到疾病在診斷時已經進展甚至擴散的情況。
Geoff: What makes someone high risk for prostate cancer and what can people do to better detect and prevent it?
傑夫：是什麼讓一個人患前列腺癌的風險很高，人們可以做些什麼來更好地檢測和預防前列腺癌？
Dr. Raman: There are certain groups of people or risk factors that place you at higher risk. Black men or men of African ancestry have an increased risk. Those with a genetic or hereditary gene mutation, those with a family tree like a father or brother as well as certain unique populations such as the Jewish population. In those persons while I talk about screening between the ages of 45 and 50, we recommend these groups perhaps have their first test between 40 and 45 years of age to detect the potential of these high risk populations.
拉曼博士：某些人群或風險因素會使你面臨更高的風險。 黑人男性或非洲血統的男性風險增加。 那些有遺傳或遺傳基因突變的人，那些有家族遺傳的人，如父親或兄弟，以及某些獨特的人群，如猶太人。 當我談論45至50歲之間的篩查時，我們建議這些群體在40至45歲之間進行第一次測試，以檢測這些高危人群的潛力。
Geoff: Dr. Jay Raman, thank you for being with us. Dr. Raman: Thank you so much. ♪♪
