Trivandrum: Indian health department authorities in Kerala have launched a probe into the incident in which a 38-year-old woman had to undergo chemotherapy at Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, Kerala, after being wrongly diagnosed with breast cancer.

The incident came to light when the victim, Rajani, a native of Kudassanadu in Alappuzha, lodged a complaint with the hospital authorities.

Lump on a breast

The woman, who had a six centimetre-long lump on a breast, received treatment from the oncology department in February.

Confirming the incident, Regional Medical Officer R.P. Renjin said the woman was given treatment after a tru-cut biopsy test conducted at a private lab revealed a small area of malignancy on her breast. The official also confirmed the receipt of a complaint by the woman.

“The lump had seemed malignant during a clinical examination while a mammogram test in the next stage too confirmed the suspicion. Following this, the patient was referred to a pathology test. While one sample was sent to the hospital laboratory, the other was examined at a private facility. The treatment was given based on the examination of the second sample as the test result from the hospital lab would have been available only a couple of weeks later,” he said.

Official sources identified the private laboratory as Dianova Laboratory functioning near the hospital, run by a former pathologist of the hospital.

Senior consultant oncologist Suresh Kumar K., who had treated the woman, said that after the tru-cut biopsy tested positive for malignancy, it was decided to subject her to chemotherapy at the earliest considering the possibility of it spreading to more areas.

Results

“However, the review result and the additional results, which came out later showed that there was no malignancy. It was then decided to hold the therapy and she was asked to examine the lump once again,” he explained.

The woman later approached the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram for a breast scan, which too ruled out cancer.

As she returned to the Kottayam medical college with the latest results, she was given a correction course and the benign lump was removed surgically.

The woman had suffered hair loss after the chemotherapy session. “Being subjected to chemotherapy without cancer is harmful for the human body. Nausea, hair loss or appetite loss may result,” according to medical sources.

Minister for Health K.K. Shylaja has asked the Principal of the Government Medical College, Kottayam, to investigate and submit a report on the incident.