<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Cancer victim 'falsely reassured'

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416><!-- S BO --><!-- S IIMA --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> Seventeen women had a diagnosis delay of more than three months

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA --><!-- S SF -->A woman wrongly told she did not have breast cancer after a misdiagnosis was repeatedly reassured by medical staff, says her solicitor.
Twenty-two patients were wrongly advised after misdiagnoses by a radiologist in Greater Manchester.
Health managers have admitted that some of the women could die because of mistakes made from April 2003.
Stephen Jones, a solicitor for one of the women, said she was "very distressed" at what had happened. <!-- E SF -->
He added: "It was all the more so distressing because throughout the course of her treatment she had been reassured at every angle that everything was OK.
"So to suddenly find that there was a problem after all - and a problem of this gravity - obviously knocked her for six."
<!-- S IBOX --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD class=sibtbg> I offer my sincere apologies to the women affected by this and the worry and distress caused


Chris Harrison
GMSHA

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The radiologist, who has been suspended, had been working at North Manchester General Hospital in Crumpsall and Trafford General.
Almost 2,500 scans were checked again after concerns over the quality of his work last year.
A report published on Tuesday shows that decisions for 238 patients were wrong, and of those, 22 women who were given the all-clear have now discovered they have breast cancer.
Of those 22, 17 had a delay in diagnosis of more than three months.
One woman had a delay of two years before she was told she had breast cancer.
Dr Richard Campbell, medical director at Trafford, said: "None have died. It is possible we think in 17 cases, out of 22, the delay in diagnosis was long enough that it might alter their outcome.
Independent investigation
"The longer the delay, then of course, your risks are going to go up."
Dr Sarah Rawlings, head of policy and information at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, says that it was a "very anxious time" for those affected, but that the case was "an exception to the rule".
Chris Harrison, from Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority (GMSHA), said: "On behalf of the health authority I offer my apologies to the women affected by this, and for the worry and distress caused, in particular to the patients whose cancer diagnosis became delayed as a result of this incident." He added that an independent investigation would be carried out.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/m...er/4643790.stm