Osaka University Hospital has apologized for mixing up samples from two patients and erroneously informing a patient who did not have cancer that the test result was cancer.
Osaka University School of Medicine Hospital held a press conference on the 26th, with Hospital Director Tetsuro Takehara and others.
According to the hospital, in November last year, when they conducted a test to collect stomach tissue from a male patient in his 50s, they mistook it for a sample from a female cancer patient in her 30s.
The male patient was mistakenly given the test result that he had cancer, and surgery was performed to remove tissue from his stomach using a laparoscopy.
A detailed examination of the tissue removed after the surgery revealed that it was not cancer but a lesion called ``ectopic pancreas.'' When the hospital investigated, it was discovered that the sample had been mixed up.
The male patient had symptoms of decreased appetite after surgery, but was discharged from the hospital in December last year.
By the middle of this month, the hospital had apologized to two patients whose samples had been mixed up.
When the hospital told the male patient that he had the option of observation instead of surgery, the male patient said, ``If I had known, I would not have requested surgery.''
The hospital said, ``We apologize for performing an operation that was not originally necessary.We would like to work to prevent a recurrence by introducing a mechanical verification system into the process from sample collection to diagnosis.''