Faulty prostate cancer tests leave 406 Hong Kong patients with nervy wait
Caritas Medical Centre tested blood samples of 406 patients with reagent that could produce false positive results, Hospital Authority says
The Hospital Authority said on Tuesday that it was following up with the supplier of a testing product after being notified by the firm last week about complaints elsewhere related to quality issues.
The product, supplied by Abbott Laboratories, is a reagent kit that detects the level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in blood. An elevated level may be a sign of prostate cancer.
The product’s quality issues could “potentially lead to a misdiagnosis of prostate cancer, causing doctors to erroneously consider unnecessary treatments”, the authority said.
Two batches of the affected products were sent to Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po and Tuen Mun Hospital.
While Tuen Mun Hospital had not started to use the product, Caritas Medical Centre had already tested blood samples of 406 patients with the PSA kit since April 28.
It has reviewed the test results and will contact about 70 patients this week, and rearrange blood tests based on their clinical needs.