{"id":151533,"date":"2026-10-29T23:12:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T03:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151533"},"modified":"2026-10-29T23:12:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T03:12:38","slug":"pope-leos-diagnosis-raises-an-important-question-should-you-be-screened-for-lung-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151533","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo\u2019s diagnosis raises an important question: Should you be screened for lung cancer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By Dr. Jeremy Wigginton, Capital Blue Cross<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pope Leo\u2019s lung cancer diagnosis has put new attention on a disease that often develops without obvious warning signs.<\/p>\n<p>While his experience isn\u2019t a typical lung cancer screening story, it highlights something worth remembering: Lung cancer can be present before someone feels sick.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s one reason early detection matters. Which leads to another important question: Should you get screened for lung cancer?<\/p>\n<p>For millions of Americans at higher risk, the answer is yes. Yet remarkably few get screened \u2013 only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/lung-cancer\/screening\/index.html\">18% of eligible adults<\/a>, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n<p>Considering that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, that&#8217;s a gap worth addressing.<\/p>\n<p>Lung cancer screening isn&#8217;t based on age alone. The recommendation focuses on people who face a higher risk because of their age and smoking history.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org\/uspstf\/recommendation\/lung-cancer-screening\">U.S. Preventive Services Task Force<\/a> recommends annual screening with a low-dose CT scan for people who meet <em>all three<\/em> of these criteria:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are between ages 50 and 80.<\/li>\n<li>Have at least a 20 pack-year smoking history.<\/li>\n<li>Currently smoke or quit within the past 15 years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A pack-year is a way of measuring how much someone has smoked over time. Smoking one pack a day for 20 years, for example, equals 20 pack-years. So does smoking two packs a day for 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>One reason lung cancer can be so dangerous is that symptoms often do not appear until the disease has advanced. Those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/lung-cancer\/symptoms\/index.html\">symptoms can include<\/a> a persistent cough, chest pain, hoarseness, shortness of breath, or repeated cases of pneumonia or bronchitis.<\/p>\n<p>But screening has a different purpose. It looks for a disease before symptoms develop in people whose risk makes them more likely to benefit from the test.<\/p>\n<p>There is encouraging news: The <a href=\"https:\/\/seer.cancer.gov\/statfacts\/html\/lungb.html\">death rate today is half<\/a> what it was 30 years ago, partly because fewer people smoke but also because of new treatments.<\/p>\n<p>The stage at which lung cancer is found remains especially important. Federal data show the five-year survival rate is about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/united-states-cancer-statistics\/publications\/lung-cancer-stat-bite.html\">61% when the cancer is localized<\/a>, compared with about 9% after it has spread to distant parts of the body.<\/p>\n<p>That distinction is important in understanding Pope Leo\u2019s case. His lung cancer was found after another examination <a href=\"https:\/\/health.yahoo.com\/conditions\/cancer\/lung-cancer\/articles\/pope-leo-xiv-lung-cancer-143414748.html\">revealed a lung nodule<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>One of the easiest things to do when we feel healthy is put off preventive care. Yet that\u2019s precisely when preventive care can be valuable.<\/p>\n<p>Regular visits give <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capbluecross.com\/wps\/portal\/cap\/home\/explore\/resource\/capital-journal\/a-family-doctor-can-be-your-pathway-to-better-health\">you and your doctor<\/a> a chance to assess your risks, keep up with recommended screenings, and look for potential problems before symptoms develop.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the broader lesson worth taking from Pope Leo\u2019s diagnosis. Your next step depends in part on your smoking history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you currently smoke or did so in the past:<\/strong> Make sure your doctor knows how long you smoked, how much you typically smoked, and when you quit. If you are between age 50 and 80, ask whether you meet the criteria for annual lung cancer screening and whether a low-dose CT scan is appropriate for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you have never smoked:<\/strong> Routine lung cancer screening is not currently recommended based on age alone, but smoking is not the only risk factor.<\/p>\n<p>Ask your doctor whether a family history of lung cancer or exposure to radon, secondhand smoke, asbestos, diesel exhaust, or other substances may affect your risk. You should also discuss a persistent cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, or other concerning symptoms rather than waiting for them to go away.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC notes that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/lung-cancer\/nonsmokers\/index.html\">10% to 20% of lung cancers<\/a> in the United States occur among people who never smoked or smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes during their lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>The goal isn\u2019t to screen everyone. It\u2019s to help people understand their risk, recognize symptoms that need attention, and make sure those who should be screened know it.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, fewer than one in five eligible adults get screened. That\u2019s a number we can do something about.<\/p>\n<p><em>Dr. Jeremy Wigginton is Chief Medical Officer at Capital Blue Cross.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nJEFF WIRICK<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr. Jeremy Wigginton, Capital Blue Cross Pope Leo\u2019s lung cancer diagnosis has put new attention on a disease that often develops without obvious warning signs. While his experience isn\u2019t a typical lung cancer screening story, it highlights something worth remembering: Lung cancer can be present before someone feels sick. That&#8217;s one reason early detection &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=151533\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pope Leo\u2019s diagnosis raises an important question: Should you be screened for lung cancer?<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\r\n\r\n{excerpt}\r\n\r\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/capital-blue.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151534,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151533\/revisions\/151534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}