As Pope Leo XIV prepares to have lung nodule removed, lung health and screening get the spotlight

Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to have surgery to have a nodule in his lung removed, which Northwestern Medicine experts say has put lung health into a needed spotlight.

The pope – who is the first American pope and a native of Chicago's South Side – will be admitted into the hospital Tuesday for surgery to remove the nodule found during a routine check.

Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital is home to the Lung Health Center, which sees nodules like this regularly.

"The lung health center is designed to offer all adults an opportunity to screen their lungs," said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery. "Lung nodules are very common. Not all lung nodules need to be removed."

That Pope Leo is having surgery is telling, he said.

"He's going through surgery, as we've all heard, so there is substantial concern that this nodule that was diagnosed is cancer," Bharat said.

Experts said the pope's case is a perfect example of why the Northwestern Lung Health Center was created a year ago. As more people without traditional risk factor get lung cancer, doctors there are trying to change the way lung cancer is screened for.

"Lung cancer screening is really restricted to a small cohort of patients and that is despite the fact that lung cancer is the biggest cause of cancer death," said Bharat.

"There isn't really preventative screenings for lung cancer like there is for breast or colon cancer," said Andrea Kerry, patient at Northwestern.

Kerry is an example; thanks to preventative screening, doctors found a nodule in her lung that ended up being cancerous. They were able to quickly remove it.

"I had surgery two weeks later. It was like six weeks from when they told me I had cancer to my lobectomy," she said.

Kerry is active and not a smoker. So with no symptoms and no regular screenings in place, it could have been too late had she not elected to do the check that ultimately led to her diagnosis.

"I'm trying to scream it from the rooftops to go get checked, because you just don't know," she said. 

A study found only 35% of 1,000 consecutive lung cancer patients would have qualified for screening under current federal guidelines, prompting the founding of the Lung Health Center. Northwestern Medicine now recommends expanding universal age-based lung cancer screening to ages 40 to 85. 

If screening expanded, they said, they believe 95% of lung cancers would be detected and more than 26,000 deaths per year could be prevented.

If you want to be screened for lung cancer and other lung health conditions, with the Northwestern Medicine Lung Health Center, call 312-695-1800 or email lunghealthcenter@nm.org.

The Midwest Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel said they are praying for the pope as he undergoes surgery. They released a statement, writing in part, "We pray that the Lord will bless the physicians and caregivers entrusted with his care, and we pray for his swift and complete recovery. We are grateful for the prayers of so many people around the world who are holding the Holy Father in their hearts."