Home > Chronic and Serious Illness > Cancer

Accurate Pathology Diagnosis is Key to Successful Treatment

By Barry M. Shmookler, M.D. reprinted with permission

The first crucial step in cancer management is to assure that the pathology diagnosis (tissue biopsy) is correct and accurate. This may sound unnecessary and inefficient, but consider the following questions: Who is the only medical specialist that can make a definitive diagnosis of cancer? Is it possible that this diagnosis could be wrong?

A pathologist is the only physician who can make the actual diagnosis of cancer. This individual is a medical doctor with specialty training in the examination and diagnosis of cells and tissues. These tissues are removed from the body by various types of biopsy procedures. The pathologist then examines them under the microscope. Based on detailed characteristics of the cells, he/she must determine if the tumor is benign or malignant. It is a common misunderstanding that a definitive cancer diagnosis can be made on the basis of X-rays, mammograms, blood tests and physical examination.

These studies may cause a great concern that a cancerous (malignant) tumor is present. However, it is only when the pathologist studies a biopsy sample from this suspicious mass can a definite diagnosis of cancer be made. This leads to an important guideline for patients and family members: except in rare emergency situations, specific cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy) should not be started until the diagnosis is absolutely confirmed by the pathologist.

The reality is that mistakes are made in the diagnosis of cancer. Diagnostic accuracy depends on the individual pathologist's training, experience and judgment. In fact, a number of scientific articles have confirmed that such errors occur in cancer diagnosis in an average of 2-4% of cases. Based on these percentages, it has been calculated that 30,000 incorrect cancer diagnoses occur annually in the U.S. These errors can lead to incorrect or inappropriate treatments that cause serious medical complications. If a patient or family member is aware of this possibility, there is an easy solution to catch most of these mistakes. The approach is to obtain a second opinion from an expert pathologist. These individuals have spent many years developing expertise in focused areas of cancer diagnosis and are available to do consultations on pathology microscopic slides.

FindCancerExperts.com is a new interactive Web site that provides just such a referral service for expert pathologists. The site contains an in depth educational component about different cancer types, how pathologists make a diagnosis, frank discussions on medical errors and reasons to obtain a second opinion. The staff has assembled a network of over 50 nationally recognized expert pathologists who are available to patients for second opinion consultations. The site is financially independent. It receives no funds from pharmaceutical companies or hospitals. The expert pathologists do not pay a fee to be listed on the site.

The American Cancer Society and the American Society of Clinical Pathologists recommend second opinions for cancer diagnosis. The modest effort and expense necessary to obtain a consultation can be rewarded by the reassurance that an original diagnosis was indeed correct. On the other hand, an erroneous or inaccurate diagnosis can be detected so that unnecessary and potentially harmful treatments can be avoided.

Contact: Barry M. Shmookler, M.D.

FAX: 301-231-4987

Email: pathologist@findcancerexperts.com or barry@findcancerexperts.com

Web: http://www.findcancerexperts.com