Larry King Reveals Stage 1 Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Larry King reveals he was diagnosed with lung cancer and he caught it early because of a routine chest X-ray.

“I have a checkup every year. I’ve gone through a lot in my life – I’ve had a heart attack and heart surgery. Part of my checkup is the chest X-ray, and that is the protocol. I do it every year… it was always normal. Then the doctor says, ‘I see a little spot here. Let’s do a CAT scan, so they do a CAT scan, and they say, ‘Let’s do a PET scan’… I don’t think there are any other scans,” the 83-year-old told Extra.

The doctor told Larry, “You have a small [spot]. It could be malignant, it could be benign – we ought to take it out.”

“On July 17, I had the surgery here at Cedars. They took it out. It was malignant. They were going to take it out if it was malignant or benign. They tested it. They said, ‘You are fine.’ It was stage 1,” Larry continued. “I had no clue at all. If I had not had the chest X-ray, it would have progressed.”

“The reason I go public with it is to tell people, ‘Get a chest X-ray.’ I smoked for thirty years. The day of the heart attack, I never smoked again, and I smoked three packs a day – I smoked in the shower,” he added. “Thirty years later, I said to the doctor, ‘Is this connected with that?’ Absolutely.”

Larry added he is now on the mend. We’re wishing him the best and hope his recovery continues to go well!