VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV needs no further treatment for lung cancer after follow-up tests confirmed the disease was localized, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday.
Leo, 71, had the lower lobe of his right lung removed last week in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer. He left the hospital on Saturday, four days after surgery and well ahead of the week-long hospital stay the Vatican had initially anticipated.
The pope’s personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and his surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said in a statement that results of the final post-operative tests on tissue removed during the pope’s surgery confirmed the initial diagnosis and that the cancer had not spread.
“A subsequent oncology assessment confirmed that no further treatment is necessary,” the doctors said.
The pope had the lower section, or lobe, of his right lung removed to try to ensure that all the cancer was removed.
Additional treatment is offered in such cases if follow-up testing finds signs that the cancer has spread or has certain other signs that it might be particularly aggressive. Surgery often can be enough when tumors are caught very early, such as when someone has an X-ray or other scan that shows a spot long before it’s large or causing symptoms.
The pope appears to have had one of those “incidental findings,” a nodule in his lung spotted during another exam. In an interview with Vatican News, Margoritora, the chief thoracic surgeon at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, confirmed that the nodule was found by chance during routine abdominal examinations.
The pope carried on business while in the hospital, including a call with Russian President Putin, and has appeared strong in two public appearances at the Vatican since his surgery: the traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square and Wednesday’s longer audience, when he greeted the faithful from all over the world.
His next major engagement is an ambitious Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
Margaritora was quoted by Vatican News as saying that there was “no clinical reason” to prevent the trip, which includes a dozen flights, two helicopter rides and high altitude stops.
The pope revealed that a nodule had been found and would be surgically removed during the traditional Sunday blessing on Oct. 11, in an unusually transparent disclosure.
