Posts made in July, 2013

Could Your Cancer Diagnosis Be Wrong?

Posted on Jul 22, 2013 in Breast Cancer, Cancer | 1 comment

Prevent a Cancer Misdiagnosis with the ‘Know Error’ System

Could Your Cancer Diagnosis Be Wrong?

Being diagnosed with cancer is difficult enough, but the thought that your biopsy sample is contaminated or mixed with another sample is a frightening thought. It can lead to a misdiagnosis that results in being treated for cancer that you don’t actually have, which puts you at further risk from the temporary side effects and permanent damage that cancer treatments cause. Or equally as bad, being told your result is benign when it isn’t and then being sent on your merry way thinking you are cancer-free, which leaves the cancer growing inside of you without your knowledge.

“This scenario happens to approximately 3,000 women who undergo breast biopsies every year – or one out of every 100 cases,” according to a recent story from Fox News. Even though a misdiagnosis is rare, it is alarming to know it happens! Especially if you’re the 1 in 100 that it happens to. I always say the statistic I’m most concerned with is the statistic of ONE: me!

In the past year-and-a-half, I have had four biopsies for breast cancer. The first result came back as pre-cancer (atypical lobular hyperplasia, bordering lobular carcinoma in-situ). The next biopsy was a surgical biopsy removing what I thought was just pre-cancerous tissue. Surprise! The pathology on it came back as invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) — my devastating cancer diagnosis in January of 2012 — mixed with previously diagnosed pre-cancerous tissue.

The last two biopsies, in September of 2012, were recommended after I had a post treatment follow-up MRI that showed three areas of concern in my right breast, which is the same breast that I was treated for breast cancer in early 2012. The result of these two biopsies were negative for malignancy (huge sigh of relief) and were diagnosed as benign conditions. Of course, that third spot wasn’t biopsied due to the doc saying that they don’t need to unless the two they did biopsy come back as cancer, which they didn’t.

Most likely my four biopsies were my tissue and these diagnoses are correct, but because I was unaware of the ‘Know Error’ system at the time of each of my biopsies, I have no way of really knowing for sure if I was properly diagnosed and treated. The ‘Know Error’ system has the ability to match your DNA to the DNA of your tumor/tissues samples being biopsied to provide 100 percent accuracy that the biopsy sample is indeed from you and therefore results in a correct diagnosis. All it takes is a simple cheek swab at the time of biopsy to get your DNA and then it’s matched with your biopsy sample to confirm that your tissue is indeed yours.


The Know Error System — How It Works Video

Unfortunately, my most recent MRI follow-up this past May resulted in two areas of concern and a MRI-guided biopsy was recommended. I declined the MRI-guided biopsy because, at this time, I didn’t want to risk going through another invasive biopsy only to have it turn out as benign. Of course, it could be malignant, but given the high-false positive rate of MRIs and the fact that my last two biopsies were benign, I’m hoping the same is true this time around, so for now, I’m holding off.

Unless what’s going on in my right breast resolves itself on its own, which is possible especially if it’s more inflammation and damage caused by radiation treatment, then most likely there’s another biopsy in my future. Of course, I hope it resolves itself and another biopsy is not needed, but if it doesn’t and I do opt for a biopsy this next go around, then I am certainly going to request that the ‘Know Error’ system be used.

To learn more about the ‘Know Error’ system, visit: http://knowerror.com/

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