The Andalusian Health Service (SAS) has notified dozens of individuals that they had been detected with colon cancer in the screening program, and now these tests will be repeated as the results may be erroneous. An official spokesperson for the SAS attributes these false positives to a 'technical incident' that occurred a few days ago, which has reportedly been resolved, although its nature has not been specified.

According to Málaga Hoy, the affected samples are estimated to be around 400. The error is said to originate in the fecal occult blood test. Healthcare professionals detected a higher-than-expected number of positive results in these analyses and, after activating the review protocol, confirmed that a 'technical incident' might be generating these erroneous results.

The SAS has informed the affected health districts and initiated a procedure to review the cases, contacting patients to offer them a repeat of the test. The acting spokesperson for the Andalusian government, Carolina España, confirmed the 'technical incident' identified by the hospital's own professionals due to an 'excessively high number of false positives'.

'The laboratory professionals themselves were the ones who identified it and immediately began a review of the procedure because it seemed unusual. They confirmed that there was a technical incident that could be generating these false positives,' explained the acting spokesperson. This incident was communicated to the affected health districts, and a 'procedure for reviewing potentially involved cases' was launched to offer these patients a 'repeat' of the tests.

Colon cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in Andalusia, ranking second in incidence after lung cancer in men and breast cancer in women. The screening program, aimed at individuals aged 50 to 69, seeks to detect the disease in its early stages. The occurrence of false positives comes months after a crisis involving errors in breast cancer screening within the region.