October 11, 1999 A Pathology Second Opinion -- It May Save Your Life Bambi Schwartz

Many of us take such care in selecting our surgeon, medical oncologist, and radiation oncologist, interviewing two or three to find the ones we consider to be right for us.

But when we are handed our pathology report we try to understand the foreign language it is written in with the help of our chosen doctors and accept it as is. We have no choice on who this doctor is nor do we ever meet him. Yet what he has to say is the most important thing of all. It will determine the whole course of our cancer treatment. Our other doctors rely on his diagnosis to make all of their decisions about our future. Why do we accept this doctor so willingly when we scrutinize all the others. Second opinion consultation services include a review of the pathology slides so that is a good place to start.

Well I was lucky. I had daughters so I went to a Genetics Counselor. Because my parents were both only children, I did not have good pedigree material. So the Genetics Counselor sent me for a second opinion pathology as a way to get more information.

This pathologist was a Breast Cancer specialist at a different medical center. This was four months after my diagnosis and I was finished with my treatment except for five years of Tamoxifen. When I received his report I was devastated to read he had detected an error on my initial report. It turned out to be estrogen and progesterone negative not positive. This was confirmed with a re-review at the original medical center and called for an entirely different and more aggressive treatment. The hormonal therapy I was on was nearly useless!!!!! I would have spent 5 years and more than $5,000 on something that was doing no good at all.

So my advice is to get a second opinion pathology report ... it may save your life.

Bambi Schwartz is the founder of Patient to Patient Visiting Service at California Pacific Medical Center. She is a Patient Advocate with the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Center's Breast Oncology Specialized Programs of Research Excellence.

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