Adelaide man suspected flaws with SA Pathology prostate cancer testing more than 12 months ago

AN Adelaide man raised suspicions that SA Pathology had problems with its prostate testing program 12 months before 100 false positive tests were exposed last week.

• INQUIRY: Independent inquiry ordered into cancer bungles
• SPECIAL report: Questions remain over testing
• REVEALED: SA Pathology’s second bungle in a week
• SACKED: SA Pathology chief sacked over testing stuff-up

AN Adelaide man has raised suspicions that SA Pathology had problems with its prostate testing program 12 months before 100 false positive tests were exposed last week.

The Sunday Mail revealed last week that a series of blunders at SA Pathology since early January had produced 100 false positive results — indicating the patient had cancer — causing patients extreme stress and worry.

Kerry, 68, of the western suburbs, who did not want his last name to be published, said yesterday he received a false positive prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test from SA Pathology in January last year.

He had his prostate gland surgically removed two years earlier and routine blood tests registered undetectable PSA until early last year when a shock result showed a sudden rise.

Having a detectable PSA level raised concerns that cancer had taken hold in a secondary site, mostly likely in his spine, Kerry said.

A subsequent blood test in June again wrongly showed the PSA was increasing — from 0.03 to 0.04 — and by December last year another test through SA Pathology returned a PSA reading of 0.07 causing considerable concern to Kerry and his specialist.

But after 12 months of “total anxiety’’, a PSA test done last week through a rival laboratory came back clear of any trace of cancer and Kerry says he can finally live without stress.

“The first thing (the specialist) said to me was, ‘you’re my first SA Pathology’,’’ Kerry said. “He was smiling and I can tell you it was a relief.’’

Kerry said he saw his specialist after reading in the Sunday Mail of the plight of the 100 men who had false positive PSA blood test done by SA Pathology.

“I’ve spent the last 12 months worrying about it and I was clear all along. I think that’s disgusting,” he said.

“I couldn’t go through a day without thinking about it and it didn’t only affect my immediate family, it caused stress for lots of others in the family and some of my friends.”

Health Minister Jack Snelling sacked SA Pathology executive director Ken Barr and ordered an independent review into the organisation, to start next week.

Revelations of the inaccurate tests prompted a rush of retests by prostate patients, including John, 73, of Adelaide’s eastern suburbs.

A retired laboratory technical officer who had his prostate removed in 2014, John had a higher than normal PSA reading in a test by SA Pathology last December but a retest in March showed it had returned to normal.

He said his specialist told him of 25 other false positive PSA tests at the surgery which caused John to question the operations and training within SA Pathology after suggestions that faulty chemicals were used to do the tests.

“I have worked in a laboratory and a lot of people coming along now don’t necessarily know how an instrument works,” he said. “A lot of them don’t have experience.

“They’ve probably had lots of budget cuts as well and was the ... machine they were using cheaper than the other one ... and they’re probably under pressure to make money.’’

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