Cancer Answers 123

When I was a resident, the chief of pathology, whose name I've forgotten, at the medical center where I trained, UCSF,  was noted for words that I still remember: "Anyone who thinks that then final diagnosis is finally defined by a thin slice of tissue between two pieces of glass is only slightly less foolish than any pathologist who believes the same." So it's not surprising, as reported in a recent New York Times article (Prone to Error: Earliest Steps To Find Cancer", NYTimes, 7/21/10), that reliance on the diagnoses of a single pathologist or even multiple pathologists at the same Institution,especially when relatively inexperienced in a particular disease, may lead to misdiagnoses, with often severe and catastrophic consequences. Experienced oncologists will always get a review of outside pathology on patients before treatment and don't hesitate to ask for a second reading by a reliable or renowned reference lab before beginning treatments, who adverse consequences or toxicity may be severe and irreversible. It's a lesson all physicians and patients should learn and remember.