A new report on the investigation into a potential hospital cancer cluster is shedding light on the 11 nurses who were diagnosed with brain tumors.
Eleven current and former nurses in Newton-Wellesley Hospital’s fifth floor maternity wing were diagnosed with brain tumors, sparking concern from employees and the community.
Now, a new independent report of the tumor concerns at the hospital concluded that the hospital workplace is a safe environment — and is not the cause of the brain tumors. There’s no evidence of “a true workplace tumor cluster” at the Mass General Brigham facility, according to the Harvard professor’s report.
The external review provides some new information about the 11 diagnosed nurses, who are all women.
Six of the cases are meningiomas, two are gliomas, two are pituitary adenomas, and one is a schwannoma of the optic nerve. Except for the gliomas, the other nine tumors are all considered benign.
Here’s more information about the nurses:
Case 1: 50-59 years old; hired in 2000-2009; meningioma; imaging diagnosis
Case 2: 50-59 years old; hired in 2010-2019; meningioma; imaging diagnosis
Case 3: 30-39 years old; hired in 2010-2019; meningioma; tissue confirmed
Case 4: 50-59 years old; hired in 2010-2019; meningioma; possible imaging
Case 5: 50-59 years old; hired in 2010-2019; meningioma; tissue confirmed
Case 6: 50-59 years old; hired in 2020-present; meningioma; imaging diagnosis
Case 7: 50-59 years old; hired in 2000-2009; glioma; tissued confirmed
Case 8: 50-59 years old; hired in 2000-2009; glioblastoma; tissue confirmed
Case 9: 40-49 years old; hired in 2010-2019; pituitary adenoma; imaging diagnosis
Case 10: 20-29 years old; hired in 2020-present; pituitary microadenoma; imaging diagnosis
Case 11: 60-69 years old; hired in 1990-1999; optic nerve schwannoma; imaging diagnosis