Everything About the KTP Hospital’s ‘Unnecessary Treatment’ for Breast Cancer Summarised for You

Imagine faithfully taking your medication for 8 years, only to find out that you may not have needed them in the first place.

You’d want to find out how you’ve been compromised since most medication aren’t really beneficial for healthy people and you’d want to find out why there is a screw up.

Well, around 90 patients found themselves in this unfortunate position, lately.

What happened?

Inaccurate Test Results

On Friday, December 11, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) said that approximately 90 breast cancer patients may have received unnecessary treatment since 2012 due to inaccurate test results.

Specifically, it was found that an “incorrect staining process” used in the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) test lead to higher-than-expected rates of positive results.

This means that the patients determined to be HER2 positive previously might actually be HER2 negative.

KTPH has been testing its patients for HER2 in 2012, to ascertain the aggressiveness of a patient’s breast cancer and, subsequently, influence treatment options. 180 breast cancer patients have gone through HER2 testing since 2012, and around half of them may have since received unnecessary treatment for HER2.

The drug administered to these patients, Herceptin, has side effects like diarrhoea, chills and fever. A small percentage of patients (3 to 4 per cent of cases) may also experience heart problems.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) takes a serious view of the incident. Under MOH’s requests,  KTPH is to review other laboratory protocols beyond the HER2 test as a safety precaution.

Re-testing for HER2

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has stopped in-house HER2 testing.

Meanwhile, the affected patients’ samples have been sent to several external laboratories for re-testing.

“As some of the retest results return, the hospital has begun reaching out personally to patients and their treating oncologists to offer support. This process of contacting patients is still ongoing,” KTPH said.

Since KTPH reported the incident to National Healthcare Group (NHG) on 22 November, an independent review committee, that includes external experts, has been convened to thoroughly investigate the incident and prevent similar incidents in future.

Mrs Chew Kwee Tiang, chief executive of KTPH, said, “I would like to convey my deepest apologies to all the affected patients, their families and their treating oncologists.”

“I am very sorry that they have to go through this. We will provide all the necessary support and assistance, and will do our best to take care of them.”

Luckily, the patients should not come off to badly from this.

According to The Straits Times, Associate Professor Rebecca Dent, the head of of the medical oncology division at the National Cancer Centre Singapore said the side effects of the drug used are “temporary and reversible”, and patients encountering abnormal heart function would have been monitored and referred to a cardiologist (heart specialist).

Hence, the patients should not be affected in their outcomes or prognosis, even though they were “over-treated”.

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