A Hong Kong patient with colon cancer died three weeks after undergoing an operation, with a hospital opening an investigation after a CAT scan revealed that a surgical opening in her abdomen had been incorrectly positioned.

Tseung Kwan O Hospital said on Friday that the 85-year-old transverse colon cancer patient had died on Tuesday after undergoing stoma surgery on February 7. The procedure involved creating a surgical opening to alleviate an intestinal obstruction.

In the time between the operation and her death, the patient was monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU) and the surgical ward at Tseung Kwan O Hospital before being transferred to Haven of Hope Hospital on February 16 for rehabilitation.

Tseung Kwan O Hospital said the patient, whose vital signs had been stable, had a consistent and relatively high output from her stoma during her stay in the rehabilitation hospital, and later showed symptoms of abdominal pain, a drop in blood pressure and an accelerated heart rate on Sunday afternoon.

She was sent back to Tseung Kwan O Hospital the next day for treatment.

“The patient received an emergency CAT scan on March 3. It showed that her stoma was located in the stomach, rather than the intended transverse colon,” the hospital said.