Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a statement from his office released Sunday afternoon.

“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement read.

“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,” the statement concluded.

A Gleason score of 9 indicates a high-grade, aggressive form of prostate cancer. It further indicates that the cancer cells look very different from normal prostate cells and are likely to grow and spread rapidly.

This places the cancer in the Grade Group 5, the highest-risk category, which is associated with a greater likelihood of metastasis and a more challenging prognosis. Yet despite the cancer’s apparent aggressiveness, its hormone-sensitive nature offers a viable treatment pathway, according to the National Cancer Institute.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Biden confirmed to ABC News that a small nodule was found in the former president’s prostate after “a routine physical exam.”

The discovery of the nodule “necessitated further evaluation,” the spokesperson said.

In February 2023, while serving as president, Biden had a lesion removed from his chest that was cancerous. Before entering office, Biden had several non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery.

“As expected, the biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma,” White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said at the time. “All cancerous tissue was successfully removed. … No further treatment is required.”

Biden’s health had been under scrutiny since before he dropped out of the presidential race in 2024, giving way to then-Vice President Kamala Harris to top the Democratic presidential ticket.

In an appearance on ABC’s “The View” earlier this month, both Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden generally pushed back against the slate of new books from reporters claiming that Biden was dealing with cognitive decline at the end of his presidency.

“They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer death among men in the U.S., according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

An estimated 313,780 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed this year, representing 15.4% of all new cancer cases, with an estimated 35,770 deaths from prostate cancer this year, representing 5.8% of all cancer deaths, according to the NIH. The five-year relative survival rate from prostate cancer, meaning the percentage of people alive five years after diagnosis, is roughly 98%, the NIH says.

Prostate cancer in general usually grows very slowly. While finding and treating it before symptoms occur may not improve men’s health or help them live longer it is generally a more treatable type of cancer, even when it has spread.

-ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.