Leo XIV will reportedly receive three years of cancer immunotherapy despite an earlier Vatican statement to the contrary.
Pope Leo XIV will receive preventive immunotherapy with pembrolizumab for at least three years to reduce the risk of cancer returning, journalist Mirticeli Medeiros of GloboNews reported on October 23. He referred to sources at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
The Pope will not undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
The report contradicts an official statement issued just two days earlier. On October 21, the Holy See Press Office announced that the Pope’s doctors had concluded that no further treatment was necessary following his lung cancer surgery.
Surgeons removed the lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung during an operation on October 13.
According to Medeiros, the tumour measured 2.5 centimetres and tested positive for PD-L1, a protein that can help cancer cells evade the immune system.
Pembrolizumab works by helping the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells. The reported three-year course is unusually long, as established postoperative pembrolizumab regimens for eligible lung cancer patients generally last around one year.
#newsEvggoqpzov