As many as 33 girls in Sweden had their uteruses unnecessarily eliminated after Uppsala College Hospital wrongly identified them as being liable to uterine most cancers in 2023 and early 2024. An investigation into different instances has now been launched.
The Uppsala College Hospital this week revealed that it had formally knowledgeable 33 of its feminine sufferers, aged between 38 and 85, that they obtained misdiagnosed with precancer and their hysterectomies had been pointless.
The ladies had seen docs on the hospital for quite a lot of issues, together with, in some instances, unexplained vaginal bleeding. Throughout their visits between 2023 and the spring of 2024, cell samples had been taken and later analysed by the hospital’s laboratory. The 33 girls had been discovered to have cell modifications that put them liable to growing most cancers, often called endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN).
Nonetheless, in these instances, the cell evaluation proved incorrect, with pathologists systematically overdiagnosing EIN, the hospital mentioned.
“We deeply remorse what has occurred. Eradicating the uterus is a significant operation with main and irreversible penalties. It should not occur, and but it did, and we apologise to the ladies affected by this. They’ve our full assist,” Johan Lugnegård, Chief Medical Officer on the Uppsala College Hospital,” acknowledged.
Stunning information
Lugnegård issued an announcement on Wednesday night during which he clarified that 25 out of the 33 girls not solely had their wombs but in addition their ovaries eliminated.
This greater surgical procedure implies that the manufacturing of intercourse hormones in a girl’s physique is stopped and that she, in impact, enters menopause if she hasn’t already.
Talking with Euractiv, Belinda Haraldsdotter, president of the Swedish Gynaecological Most cancers Affiliation, expressed her shock on the information.
“A catastrophe, it is a catastrophe for the ladies, who’ve undergone main operations which have long-term penalties and probably typically additionally problems,” she mentioned, additionally pointing to the psychological features of the hysterectomies.
The alarm was first raised by medical workers on the Uppsala College Hospital’s girls’s clinic in March 2024, who seen that the variety of hysterectomies had doubled in 2023. This prompted the hospital to launch an investigation.
Pathologists from different hospital laboratories had been invited to verify the cell prognosis from the Uppsala laboratory, discovering the inaccurate cell evaluation.
Patchy high quality assurance
In keeping with Johan Lugnegård, the hospital had “misplaced its high quality assurance” of cell samples throughout elements of 2023 and 2024.
“We didn’t have the standard assurance we usually have in place,” he informed the Swedish medical journal with out explaining why.
Nonetheless, in his letter to the media, Johan Lugnegård says {that a} contributing issue to the defective cell evaluation was that the hospital didn’t actively take part within the Swedish Society of Pathology’s working group KVAST, the place high quality management is being mentioned collectively on the time.
Tommie Olofsson, the top of operations on the laboratory in Uppsala, states its assessments stack out:
“It’s finally a matter of subjective judgements, however Uppsala College Hospital stands out in a nationwide comparability. We’ve been too strict in our judgements, extra typically convicted than acquitted, which has led to overdiagnosis. There should not be such massive variations, and it is a shortcoming in our high quality assurance.”
The hospital’s investigation into the malpractice continues to be ongoing.
Wider web for high quality assurance
Belinda Haraldsson is now demanding that related cell evaluation operations be quality-assured and that different hospitals in Sweden additionally verify their pathology strategies.
“The cell pattern assessments must be made completely dependable for ladies,” she informed Euractiv.
The hospital in Uppsala began a random pattern survey for 2021 and 2022 to research if different related instances occurred.
It additionally claimed that measures have been taken since final spring to make sure related errors don’t occur.
“The hospital has ensured its participation within the nationwide community, the place pathologists from totally different laboratories evaluate instances in an effort to acquire a uniform evaluation,” it mentioned.
The ladies have now been suggested by the hospital to hunt compensation from the Swedish Affected person Damage Insurance coverage.
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]