[ad_1]
SINGAPORE – At least 200 patients were misdiagnosed with cancer by the laboratory at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), resulting in unnecessary treatment that likely cost tens of thousands of dollars each.
The results of a new test for eight patients are still pending.
On December 11, the KTPH revealed that around 180 patients had been misdiagnosed with HER-2 positive breast cancer and that it was reviewing tests conducted since 2012.
HER-2 is a less common form of breast cancer and generally affects 15-20 percent of these patients. There are drugs targeting this particular form of cancer, the first and most widely used being Herceptin.
In response to questions in Parliament from various MPs on Monday (January 4) about the side effects that patients may have suffered, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Minister of State for Health, said that common side effects are diarrhea. , chills and fatigue.
About 3-4 percent of patients can suffer from heart problems.
Doctors are reaching out to affected patients to help them and assess any side effects due to the drug, he said.
Ms. Cheryl Chan (East Coast GRC) asked why it took so long to discover the error.
Dr. Koh responded that 6% of patients worldwide are misdiagnosed with HER-2 positive breast cancer. The test is very complex and without a definitive answer.
He said a trained pathologist is needed to make a judgment on the test result. But this could be affected by the multiple steps that require human intervention, such as the concentration of stains and how the tissue was manipulated.
It requires a fairly large number of results to trigger an alert that a disproportionate number of patients may be diagnosed with the condition.
Dr. Koh said the errors were discovered due to “institutional process.” The hospital’s tumor board noted that the number of HER-2 positive cases was higher than normal, prompting the review.
She added that reviews have been conducted for patients diagnosed with HER-2 positive breast cancer since 2012 because that was when the hospital began conducting such tests, and not because errors had occurred at that time.
Dr. Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC) and Dr. Tan Wu Meng (Jurong GRC) inquired about the additional cost incurred by affected patients. Dr. Tan, a cancer specialist, suggested that compensation take into account a patient or caregiver’s work time for unnecessary treatment.
Dr. Koh said it was difficult to give a figure as the cost varies from patient to patient. Furthermore, he said that not all of the 200 patients who were misdiagnosed received Herceptin. Some, he said, may have been too fragile.
The KTPH had previously said that “about half of these patients may have received unnecessary treatment for HER2, usually the drug Herceptin.”
The Straits Times understands that Herceptin costs between $ 3,000 and $ 4,000 per cycle in the public sector and around $ 5,000 in the private sector.
Patients typically receive treatment for one year and undergo 17 to 18 cycles. This equates to between $ 50,000 and $ 70,000 per patient in the public sector.
“The portion of the bills that arose from the unnecessary treatment will be fully reimbursed,” said Dr. Koh.
Even discounting the subsidy that some of these patients had received, the reimbursements will likely total millions of dollars.
Dr. Koh also noted that “the preferred stage” for cancer is more than under treatment, adding that not having HER-2 positive cancer means that patients have a better prognosis.
[ad_2]
