MIRAMICHI, New Brunswick - A Canadian hospital has expanded an investigation into misdiagnosed biopsies to include nearly 24,000 cases.
The Miramichi Regional Health Authority's review of cases from 1995 to 1997 was prompted by an audit of 227 breast and prostate cancer biopsies that a pathologist performed in 2004 and 2005, CanWest News Service reported.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said the biopsies under investigation were performed by the health authority's former chief pathologist, Rajgopal Menon.
The audit, conducted by an independent pathologist last month, indicated that 18 percent of the cases reviewed had incomplete results and 3 percent of the cases were misdiagnosed. CanWest said thousands of New Brunswick patients fear their cases may have been misdiagnosed.
Lawyers for the CBC and the Telegraph-Journal newspaper are challenging a court-ordered publication ban that closed off access to the results of the internal investigation.
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