Cancer cases found after errors

This is the same story as in the previous post, but it mentions eighteen rather than fourteen cases.

Eighteen women have been told they have breast cancer after screening errors by a radiologist in East Lancashire failed to detect the disease.

The women were among hundreds who had mammograms at Accrington Victoria Community Hospital, of which 355 cases were reviewed in an independent study. East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said it was "not possible" to say if the women's prognosis was affected. The radiologist involved last screened patients in December 2008. The trust said they had not worked since April.

The blunder came to light through internal monitoring in the screening service which sparked an independent investigation. As a result all of the radiologist's breast cancer screenings over the past three years were scrutinised, said the hospital trust. Of these cases 85 women were re-tested and 14 diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and all are receiving treatment.

A further four patients were found to have ductal carcinoma in situ - a non-invasive breast cancer - which had not progressed.

Source: BBC