The fact that the cancer had spread to the bone, Emanuel told hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, indicated that it has been in Biden for “for a very long time.”

“We don’t know [how many years], obviously, and it is a little surprising to many of us oncologists that he wasn’t diagnosed earlier,” Emanuel said, noting that a regular prostate exam would have very likely caught the cancer.

“I would say it is surprising that he did not get this test given the fact that the proclivity of presidential physicians is test more rather than less, and I think it is a little, it’s a little strange,” Emanuel added. “We do know from the population, like I said, 7 percent of people diagnosed with prostate cancer get it diagnosed at the metastatic moment, when it’s already metastatic. So it’s not unusual that people can say, ‘No, I don’t want the test,’ or their doctor doesn’t recommend it or they don’t get the tests for one reason or another.”