Quebec's Association of Pathologists and Quebec's Federation of Medical Specialists say flawed breast cancer tests may have resulted in hundreds of women receiving the wrong cancer treatments.
A small study looked at the results of pathology tests performed mostly in hospital labs.
The study suggested 15 to 30 per cent of breast cancer tests in the province were inaccurate.
"What the sample that was re-analyzed showed was that the process that provided that piece of tissue - human tissue that was provided to the physician, to the pathologist - was of poor quality, or a quality that was not sufficient," said Dr. Gaetan Barrette, president of the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists.
Barrette blamed the errors on poor quality control - resulting from chronic under-funding and staff shortages.
"The quality was lacking in many senses," he said.
Mixed reaction from health experts
Some health experts are comparing the situation to a testing scandal in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In a recent fiasco, a pathology lab was found to have released inaccurate hormone receptor tests to almost 400 patients.
But Dr. Sarkis Meterissian, director of the MUCH's Cedars Breast Cancer Clinic, said those concerns are premature, and urged cancer patients not to worry.
"I think that we're really extrapolating. We have a study on breast cancer, and now we're making statements about colon cancer, sarcomas and so forth. On what basis?" Meterissian asked.
Health Minister reacts
Quebec Health Minister Dr. Yves Bolduc said he had not seen the study, and is now waiting for a report from the Quebec College of Physicians.
"Tomorrow we are supposed to have a line from Info-Sante that can give information to the patients. Next week, very early in the week, we will take a decision to know what to do with patients who have cancer and are in treatment now, and the patients that had treatment in the past," said Bolduc.
