How was Joe Biden’s cancer not caught earlier? The news that the former president is battling an aggressive, stage-4 prostate cancer that has spread to the bone ignited a public debate about why a person with peerless access to medical care was diagnosed at such an advanced stage with a disease that is quite common in men his age.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the U.S., and often treatable. One urologist says Biden has good options ahead — largely thanks to recent advances in research.