The Newfoundland and Labrador health authority at the centre of a breast cancer testing scandal says it has identified more than three dozen additional patients — including 24 now dead — who should have been retested in a review of hormone receptor tests.

Eastern Health said Friday afternoon it found that 38 more breast cancer patients qualified for retesting.

Of those, 24 have died and at least 10 don't require a change in treatment because they were treated as if they were cancer-positive and received Tamoxifen or alternative drug therapies.

There are four surviving patients who may require a change in treatment. Meanwhile, several other charts require more review, according to the release.

Eastern Health's mishandling of the breast cancer testing crisis led to an inquiry in 2008 and a damning report by Justice Margaret Cameron.

The patients were identified as part of an ongoing patient identification review started in the fall of 2008. Eastern Health said the process was initiated in response to a number of patients who came forward to identify themselves during the past year.

"In an effort to ensure that we identify as many potentially affected individuals as possible, and given previously recognized challenges with internal information systems, in November, Eastern Health engaged the services of the NL Centre for Health Information. During the past week, NLCHI has provided a number of patient charts for clarification," the release said.

"We apologize for the distress this late identification may cause our patients, however, we also take some measure of reassurance that this enhanced review process by NLCHI has accomplished what it was designed to do."

Eastern Health said it was sending samples from the identified patients for retesting at an external laboratory and would be sharing the results with living patients and with the relatives of those who had died. The retesting is expected to take four weeks.

Eastern Health said it was contacting the surviving patients and their doctors to inform them of the review results and to discuss followup care.

Officials at Eastern Health declined an interview Friday, saying they have nothing further to add.