Outdated machines may have overlooked breast cancer in several Irish women

A number women in Ireland who were previously given the all clear for breast cancer have been asked to return to be re-screened.

Doctors have ordered that patients be re-tested for the disease as those who were tested for breast cancer in Portlaoise General Hospoital, Ireland, were screened using equipment which was old and often dirty.

The dirty equipment led to a delay in diagnosis or in the case of eight women so far, completely missing the cancer. The womens’ cancer went unknown for as long as a year in some cases. When images were developed the dirt on the equpiment often obscured the images making it difficult to see or diagnose a tumour.

The equipment, which is outdated as it operates using film and not digital images, is not what doctors found most worrying. Doctors found that often, it was not a case of dirt on the machine, but dirt in the hospital dark room.

The HSE said the the machine in question was inspected for a routine check on May 18 and found to be in full working order. The machine was used until late in August when a review of 3,000 mammogram machines was ordered.

There are currently only six women left awaiting results from tests in St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.