First Baby Born Who Was Screened For Cancer Gene

A baby girl was born in England who was tested before conception for a gene that is a marker for developing breast cancer.

The girl is the first person born who was screened for the BRCA1 gene. Doctors say if she carried the gene, she would have had an 80-percent chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer later in life.

Three generations of women in the little girl's father were diagnosed with breast cancer in their 20s.

So-called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is done by taking a cell from the embryo at the eight-cell stage of development - when the embryo is about three days old. Doctors then find an embryo that is free of BRCA1 and implant it back into the woman's womb.

The procedure could be used to prevent a child being born that carries the risk for other diseases like cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis.

But the practice has also raised ethical red flags. Josephine Quintaville, of the group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, told the BBC that the procedure goes too far.

"I hope 20 years down the line we have eradicated breast cancer - not eradicated the carriers," she told BBC News.

Errors Occur Frequently In Outpatient Cancer Treatments

Seven percent of adults and 19 percent of children undergoing chemotherapy treatment in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dosage of medication or experienced other medical mishaps according to a recent study.

The investigation led by Kathleen E. Walsh, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and published in the January 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"As cancer care continues to shift from the hospital to the outpatient setting, the complexity of care is increasing, as is the potential for medication errors, particularly in the outpatient and home settings," says. Walsh.

An analysis of data on nearly 1,300 patient visits at three adult oncology outpatient clinics and 117 visits at one pediatric facility between Sept. 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006 showed that errors in medication were more common than previously reported by oncology patients.

Of the 90 medication errors involving adults, 55 had the potential to harm the patient and 11 did cause harm. The errors included administration of incorrect medication doses due to confusion over conflicting orders - one written at the time of diagnosis and the other on the day of administration.

Patients were also harmed by over-hydration prior to administration of medication, resulting in pulmonary edema and recurrent complaints of abdominal pain and constipation.

More than 50 percent of errors involving adults were in clinic administration, 28 percent in ordering of medications, and 7 percent in use of the drugs in patients' homes.

About 40 percent of the 22 medication errors in children could have potentially severely harmed with four children needing medical attention. The study further revealed that more than 70 percent of the errors involving children occurred at home.

Examples of pediatric errors included parents giving the wrong dose or the wrong number of doses per day of medicines because of a caregiver's confusion about instructions.