Health Minister Jack Snelling orders review of SA Pathology after 100 men got false reading indicating prostate cancer

A PATHOLOGY blunder that put 100 men “through hell” after receiving false readings indicating prostate cancer, has sparked an independent review of SA Pathology ordered by a “furious” SA Health Minister.

HEALTH - FRIDAY 10th APRIL 2015 - Urologist Dr Peter Sutherland with the New Robotic Surgery machine - New robotic surgery machine at St Andrews Hospital will increase the type of procedures that can be done robotically, pic of urologist Dr Peter Sutherland with the machine - as futuristic looking as possible. Ask for Dr Sutherland at front desk or call his mobile.

A PATHOLOGY blunder that put 100 men “through hell” after they received false readings indicating prostate cancer, has sparked an independent review of SA Pathology ordered by a “furious” SA Health Minister.

Leading urologist Dr Peter Sutherland said “at least” 100 patients in the state had received false positive results for prostate cancer since January, despite many having had their prostate gland surgically removed.

One patient who received a false positive test said he went through “hell’’ because of the error and it took weeks before being cleared of cancer by a retest.

“For 30 days I felt like I was on death row,” he said.

Health Minister Jack Snelling has ordered a full independent inquiry.

Mr Snelling ordered SA Health to conduct a full independent investigation into SA Pathology’s prostate test failures after being alerted to the issue by the Sunday Mail.

“I’m pretty furious about this and I’ve instructed (SA Health CEO) David Swan to set up a full independent investigation into what’s happened here and why it’s happened,’’ Mr Snelling said.

“I’ve been given some explanations (for the false positive readings) but until there’s an independent investigation into this, I’m not going to take anything I’m told for granted.”

Dr Sutherland, who led the Royal Adelaide Hospital’s urology department for 20 years, picked up the mistake when he ordered retesting for prostate- specific antigen for about 30 of his patients at a different lab-oratory and all returned a negative result – indicating no cancer was present.

Health Minister Jack Snelling has ordered a review.

He said the testing error – likely caused by a machine error – was greatly distressing to his patients.

“It’s extremely disappointing because you’re telling that patient that they still may have cancer and they may be needing serious additional treatment from radiotherapy, hormone therapy and chemotherapy,’’ Dr Sutherland said.

He said the incorrect positive tests were restricted to those in the lower register and in men who had their prostate gland surgically removed. It took several weeks before the patients received confirmation that no cancer was present.

Dr Sutherland said a posi-tive result in men who had their prostate glands removed might indicate the cancer had migrated within the body.

“It’s a very anxious and distressing time for those patients and it might mean a patient goes on to have radiotherapy to the base of the spine which . . . may produce extra side effects and extra problems for that person,” Dr Sutherland said.

A patient caught by the pathology bungle was a medical professional who had previously had his prostate removed and was undergoing follow-up testing. The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he be-gan putting his affairs in order because he believed he had a growing cancer.

“It left me waiting for a month, thinking things were as bad as they could be,’’ he said.

“It’s just a very unpleasant experience. You can’t help thinking what will happen next and you make a lot of choices about what to do about work and personal relationships.

“But the fact that SA Pathology responded quickly to the problem is a good thing.’’

However, Mr Snelling said he was disappointed not to have been told about the testing error by SA Pathology.

“We need to get to the bottom of it and make sure it won’t happen again,” he said. “I am extremely angry that I haven’t been informed of this as well, which surprises me.”

Mr Snelling said he wanted an eminent, interstate health expert with “private expertise” to compile a report on the issue.

“I will be having them report to me as soon as possible and I will make sure that report will be made public when it’s han-ded to me,” he said.

SA Pathology’s clinical director of chemical pathology, Dr Penelope Coates, said she took immediate steps to change procedures after Dr Sutherland and two other surgeons reported the inaccurate findings.

She said SA Pathology’s pathologists had also noticed discrepancies by late January.

“We decided there was a problem down the very low end (PSA reading) and we’ve changed our processes as a result,’’ Dr Coates said. “We are very, very sorry that people were anxious as a result of this.

“The best thing I could do was to try to correct the issue as soon as I heard about it and put as many measures in place to stop it happening again.” She wrote to urologists explaining changes to the testing protocols.

SA Pathology posted a notice on its website saying it would double-check results at lower ranges for the next six months to “ensure continuity of care”.

Mr Snelling said SA Pathology would recheck any tests if patients desired.

■If you need more details, call SA Pathology Enquiries on 8222 3000 and ask for

the on-call biochemist.