The Pope’s treatment options depend on what additional tests on his tumor reveal. For some patients with Stage 1 cancer that has not spread to the lymph nodes, surgery and monitoring for recurrence may be sufficient, says Jones.

If the cancer is more advanced, a number of relatively new options for lung cancer are available, including targeted therapies designed to specifically attack certain mutations in cancer cells, or immunotherapy, which activates the immune system into destroying cancer cells. “The innovation in treatments for lung cancer have been profound,” says Karen Knudsen, CEO of the Parker Institute. Adenocarcinomas tend to have high numbers of mutations, which make them good targets for the immune system to recognize as foreign. That also makes them promising targets for checkpoint inhibitors, a new category of cancer therapy that releases the brakes on immune cells and allows them to better detect and destroy cancer cells. “Our knowledge base is improving, and there are better outcomes for non-small cell lung cancer because of immunotherapy,” says Knudsen.