2023-11-11 16:22:00
By MA
Published 2 hours ago, Updated 2 hours ago
(Image d’illustration). Mark Kostich / stock.adobe.com
A patient was the victim of a serious error in her breast cancer treatment. The facts were reported to the Nuclear Safety Authority in July.
This would not be a first at the Tours hospital. And until today, the information had not been noted. As reported France 3 Loire Valley , a serious medical error was committed. A woman treated for breast cancer in the oncology and radiotherapy department of Bretonneau hospital received radiotherapy on her healthy breast.
In her external radiotherapy treatment, the patient concerned was to receive ionizing radiation generated by a particle accelerator to destroy the cancer cells that may have remained after surgery. Except that the breast treated, during 28 sessions spread over 28 days, was not the right one.
«A laterality error (right-left reversal) occurred during treatment preparation», Indicates the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), author of a communication in July after receiving a report from the hospital. “One of the factors contributing to this laterality error could be linked to the presence of discordant information in the report of the initial medical consultation.», Also reports ASN. The error would therefore have occurred at the start of the treatment, and the caregivers would have realized it only at the 25th session.
Risks of developing another cancer
The incident was rated level two on a severity scale of up to 7 on “unexpected or unpredictable effects» which can occur in the context of external radiotherapy. With this poor radiotherapy, the patient increases the risks, as for any person who has received radiation to the chest, of developing another radiation-induced cancer.
ASN also notes that the Touraine establishment has “déjà [été] faced with this type of laterality error“. Informed of the error, the patient should receive a new treatment, this time targeting the diseased breast.
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