Pope Leo XIV had the lower part of his right lung removed after doctors diagnosed him with the most common form of lung cancer. While lung cancer is a major killer, if caught early, survival rates can be high, as was the case with Pope’s tumor. Here are some things to know.
What is lung adenocarcinoma?
The Vatican announced that the pope had been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, one of several forms of lung cancer.
watch: What we know about Pope Leo’s lung cancer and prognosis
There are two main types: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Non-small cell carcinoma accounts for the vast majority of cases worldwide, with adenocarcinoma being its most common subtype. Even though it has varieties that grow faster or slower.
“While it’s still very dangerous, the cure rate is slightly higher than other types of lung cancer,” said Dr. John Heymach of MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. But as many as one in five lung cancers occurs in people who have never smoked, for reasons that are unclear and may, in some cases, just be random, Heimacher said.
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Other risks include exposure to radon gas, asbestos, radiation, secondhand smoke and air pollution, according to the American Cancer Society.
How is lung cancer detected?
According to the Cancer Society, symptoms of lung cancer often don’t appear until the cancer is in its advanced stages. They may include a persistent cough, chest pain, hoarseness, shortness of breath, and recurring pneumonia or bronchitis—symptoms that warrant getting checked out.
Sometimes lung cancer can be detected early when someone has an X-ray or other scan that shows spots on the lungs that require further testing. This is called an incidental finding and leads doctors to investigate before symptoms appear and possibly as early as possible, so that the cancer is still small and has not spread. In the case of the pope, a nodule was found in his lung during another examination.
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In the United States, annual screening with a low-dose CT scan (a type of X-ray) is recommended for certain groups who are at high risk from heavy smoking.
How to treat?
Surgery is the mainstay of early detection of lung cancer and is increasingly used even in advanced stages. The pope had the lower part, or lobe, of his right lung removed to ensure all cancer was removed.
The right lung has three parts or lobes, while the left lung has two. Each lobe has its own airway branches and dedicated blood vessels, and when one lobe is removed, “the other lobes actually take on some of the work,” said Dr. Ben Hari, a thoracic surgeon at Allina Health in Minneapolis.
The lungs gradually compensate over several months, until most people, especially those who are already physically active, notice little to no change after exercise, he said.
The Pope is known to participate in weekly tennis matches and swimming.
In the United States, the average length of stay after lung cancer surgery is two nights, Zhang said. This depends in part on how quickly the patient can get up and move around, how much pain there is, and how long the tube is needed to drain air and fluid from the chest.
The next day, the pope began walking, which Heimach said is “usually a sign of a faster recovery.”
Whether additional treatment is needed depends on the stage of the tumor, which depends on factors such as its size, whether it shows signs of spreading through lymph nodes, and whether there are markers on the cells that indicate the tumor may be aggressive. Additional treatment may be chemotherapy, used before surgery to shrink the tumor, or after surgery to attack any remaining cells. Other options include radiation therapy, immunotherapy, or targeted drugs that target specific molecular drivers of the tumor.
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