This is a true story that started with a dreadful experience, but rest assured that Luma intervened for a happy ending after all thanks to a Second Medical Opinion for Breast Cancer.
The Breast Cancer diagnosis
It started in early January 2023 with a routine medical check-up in a first hospital (Hospital A) that uncovered a so-called suspicious mass. The doctor suggested the patient to have it removed immediately in a surgical procedure known Excisional Biopsy. The Pathology Report (a detailed analysis under the microscope of the removed cells) revealed that it was a malignant development, in other words, known as cancer.
The diagnosis came as a shock to the patient and her family. This is when the insured, a Luma Member, contacted Luma’s medical team.
Luma Second Medical Opinion for Breast Cancer
Following a long conversation on the phone with the member, Luma’s medical team referred the member to an Oncologist in another hospital (Hospital B). Luma specifically requested an Oncology doctor to first organize a Multidisciplinary Tumor Board (MTB) conference with the presence of all Specialists in this type of cancer. The prime objective and explicit request from Luma’s medical team for the second medical opinion referral was the first step of setting up the MTB.
The first point of the detailed MTB report stated: request a paraffin block and also slides from pathology laboratory from the first hospital to review.
In simpler terms, before going ahead with the treatment protocol for cancer, the MTB team at the Hospital B first decided to verify the diagnosis. The latter (to double-check the diagnosis) is a typical attitude of MTB decision.
That’s when the original bad news started to get better, and slowly vanish.
The Outcome
The new Pathology Analysis, reviewed by 3 different Pathologist doctors, revealed that the mass contained a simple cluster of Benign Lesions that needed no more follow-up that regular check-up.
A happy ending for everyone, the patient and her family were delighted by the news, in which they immediately shared the results with Luma and the team.
Technical vocabulary:
A Paraffin block is used as an embedding medium for histological (cellular) analysis of natural tissue (in this case, the mass or group of cells that has been removed during the excisional biopsy).
The slides refer to small glass slides on which very thin layer of the mass have been placed, so that pathologist doctor can examine it under a microscope.
