his diagnosis also offers an important opportunity to talk about lung cancer. 🙏🫁 Doctors found a small lung nodule during routine medical testing. It was caught early, surgery successfully removed the lower lobe of his right lung, and tissue testing confirmed lung adenocarcinoma. A few things worth knowing: 🔹 A lung nodule does not automatically mean cancer. Many are scars, old infections, or inflammation. 🔹 Lung cancer is not exclusively a smoker’s disease. Adenocarcinoma is the most common form seen in people who have never smoked. 🔹 Early lung cancer may cause no symptoms at all. When symptoms do occur, persistent cough, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, chest pain, hoarseness, or unexplained weight loss deserve attention. 🔹 For people at high risk, screening is done with low-dose CT, not a routine chest X-ray. 🔹 When a nodule is found, doctors look at its size, growth, borders, density and location before deciding whether it needs follow-up imaging, PET scanning, biopsy, or surgery. Pope Leo’s cancer appears to have been found while it was still localized, which is exactly why early detection matters so much. Wishing the Holy Father a smooth recovery. 🙏 #PopeLeoXIV #PopeLeo #LungCancer #LungNodule #cancerawareness - @atrium.med.nyc