New Hampshire Law Blog

Early Detection of Lung Cancer

Here's why early diagnosis of lung cancer is important...

The survival rates for early stage disease are quite high, approaching 80 percent in some series.

According to this recent study,

Researchers have shown that low-dose spiral computer-based tomographic (CT) screening for the early detection of lung cancer can lead to an early diagnosis in a high proportion of cases, potentially increasing the chances for a cure.

Read the article here at Medical News Today

Because early detection can be so successful with cancer, it is important that the testing be read correctly.  This is where misdiagnosis of lung cancer cases come from.  Once the window of opportunity to treat a disease is closed, then the chances of survival drop.  This loss of chance is what drives a cancer misdiagnosis medical malpractice case.

Breast Cancer Scanning Tool

Electrical impedance scanning (EIS) is a promising tool for early detection of breast cancer in women younger than 45 years old, a new study has found.

Source:  Yahoo

Misdiagnosis of Skin Cancer (Malignant Melanoma)

Approximately 45,000 people will develop malignant melanoma each year. 

7,000 people will die each year from skin cancer.  The good news is that the rate of death is decreasing primarily because people are paying attention to their health and visiting their doctor earlier when they suspect a problem.  That is the key to Skin Cancer survival, detect the cancer early.  If you do then the chances of survival increase dramatically.

Misdiagnosis of skin cancer cases are usually directed at either the pathologist or the primary doctor.  Cases against primary doctors often are based on:

• not following up on a suspicious lesion or mole,
• failing to refer the patient to a specialist or
• failing to biopsy the suspicious lesion (especially when the mole has some of the warning signs for malignant melanoma.)

Cases against a pathologist usually are about their failing to properly recognize the melanoma in the biopsy.

I once heard about a case where a mole was biopsied and the doctor who did the biopsy threw the specimen away so it was never checked.  That person went on to develop metastatic melanoma.