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About 90 breast cancer patients may have received unnecessary treatment since 2012 due to inaccurate test results, the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) said on Friday (December 11).
Side effects of the drug given to affected patients can include diarrhea, chills, and fever. In about 3 to 4 percent of cases, patients can also experience heart problems.
The Health Ministry said Friday that it is seriously considering the incident and asked the hospital to review other laboratory protocols in addition to those for the affected tests as a safety measure.
He added that KTPH is subject to regulations for private hospitals and medical clinics that ensure its facilities and processes for solving laboratory problems are in place.
“Appropriate enforcement action will be taken if a protocol violation is detected,” the ministry said.
In an earlier statement on Friday, KTPH said it estimated 180 patients may have obtained incorrect test results. Preliminary research suggests that the cause was an incorrect staining process for the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) test.
The HER2 test is used to determine how aggressive breast cancer can be so that doctors can prescribe the appropriate treatment for patients.
Since the problem with the test was discovered, the hospital said it has identified all affected patients and that their samples dating back to 2012 have been sent to various outside labs to expedite the new test.
As some of the new test results come back, the hospital has begun to personally reach out to patients and their treating oncologists to offer support. This process of contacting patients is still ongoing.
To ensure patient safety, the hospital has stopped internal HER2 testing in its laboratory.
KTPH said it reported the incident to the National Healthcare Group (NHG) on November 22 and to the Ministry of Health on November 24. Since then, NHG has convened an independent review committee, which includes external experts, to do a comprehensive review of how the incident occurred to improve the process and prevent the repetition of similar incidents.
Said Ms. Chew Kwee Tiang, Executive Director of KTPH: “I would like to convey my deepest apologies to all affected patients, their families and their treating oncologists.
“I am very sorry that you have to go through this. We will provide all necessary support and assistance, and we will do our best to take care of them. “
Associate Professor Rebecca Dent, who heads the division of medical oncology at Singapore’s National Cancer Center, told The Straits Times that affected patients were “over-treated,” but this should not affect their results or prognosis.
He said that the side effects of the drug used are temporary and reversible. The patients would have been monitored and anyone experiencing more serious side effects affecting heart function would have been referred to a cardiologist.
While the affected samples date back to 2012, Professor Dent said that no patient would receive HER2-directed therapy for an eight-year period.
He added: “HER2-targeted therapy is generally given for a total period of one year in non-metastatic breast cancer and in certain high-risk disease situations, patients can be treated with prolonged HER2-targeted therapy for up to two years . “
Recent lapses in the public health system
Hepatitis C virus outbreak
Failures at Singapore General Hospital in 2015 led to a major outbreak of hepatitis C that infected 25 people, eight of whom died.
An independent review committee pointed to deficiencies at the hospital and gaps in the Ministry of Health’s infectious disease reporting system.
[[nid:434898]]SingHealth cyber attack
Hackers stole the personal data of 1.5 million patients in Singapore’s worst cyberattack.
About 160,000 of the patients, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and some ministers, also had their outpatient prescriptions stolen.
Hackers had infiltrated the computers of SingHealth, Singapore’s largest public healthcare group, between June 27 and July 4, 2018.
Equipment not properly sterilized in the dental clinic
A dental clinic at Tan Tock Seng Hospital used eight packages of equipment that had not been completely sterilized in some patients.
Eighteen staff members faced disciplinary action, including financial penalties and warnings, during the periods between November 28 and December 5, 2018.
The hospital said the patients’ risk of infection was extremely low as the instruments had undergone two rounds of sterilization. However, the team had missed the final round of steam sterilization to remove bacterial spores.
This article was first published in The times of the strait. Permission is required for reproduction.
