More Baby Boomers Diagnosed with Brain Cancer

A two-year battle with brain cancer has ended the life of Beau Biden, who had planned to run for governor of Delaware in 2016. Mr. Biden, the son of Vice President Joe Biden, was 46.

He is among 18,000 Americans who are afflicted with the disease annually, said a New York neurologist who specializes in brain cancer.

“Brain cancer, any brain cancer, produces horrible suffering for patients and especially their families,” said Alexis Demopoulos, MD, a neuro-oncologist with North Shore-LIJ’s Brain Tumor Center. “It robs character and personality, inexorably tearing away what makes them human and loved.”

Since 2010, Beau Biden had been plagued with health woes, beginning with a stroke. Three years later he was diagnosed with brain cancer and underwent surgery. He initially received a clean bill of health but the cancer returned this spring.

There are many different types of brain cancer and it’s still too soon to say which type had afflicted Beau Biden.

However, it is suspected that he suffered from the type caused by a primary tumor – which comes from the cells that make up the brain itself – and not one that spread from another part of his body. A glioma tumor, known to spread rapidly, is likely the type of primary tumor that he had, said Dr. Demopoulos.

According to the neuro-oncologist, the number of people diagnosed with brain cancer is increasing as baby boomers grow older because cancer becomes more frequent with increasing age.