Manitoba to lower breast-cancer screening to age 40

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This article was published 24/09/2024 (405 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government announced a plan Tuesday to increase screening for breast cancer by progressively lowering the age for self-referrals from 50 to 40, including a commitment to get to age 45 by the end of 2025.

“Breast cancer has touched the lives of so many people in this province,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said in a news release. “As we lower the screening age in Manitoba, it’s critical that the system has what it needs to meet a higher demand.”

CancerCare Manitoba has been working with health system partners to hire more mammography technologists and increase screening appointments for people aged 50 to 74, a government news release said.

Additional breast-screening clinics will be available as targets and staffing requirements are met, Asagwara said.

“With this change, CancerCare Manitoba’s breast-screening program will be providing more mammograms closer to home and with care to providing culturally sensitive and appropriate services,” CancerCare president and CEO Sri Navaratnam said in the release.

When fully expanded, the program will nearly double its capacity to more than 80,000 screening mammograms per year, the release said.

“Screening for breast cancer is an important service that can be crucial to ensuring timely diagnosis and treatment for patients,” said Dr. Duncan Inglis, a surgeon and the medical director at the Breast Health Centre, which operates under Shared Health. “Expanding breast screening to more Manitobans will save lives, and we look forward to working with our partners at CancerCare Manitoba to deliver this service to the people who need them in a timely manner.”

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said in an email her party has urged the government to take action on women’s health for months.

“While we welcome this initial step, their vague promise to ‘eventually lower the screening age to 40’ is simply not good enough,” Cook said. “Wait times for screening mammograms in Manitoba today are as high as a year in some parts of Manitoba.”

Jennifer Borgfjord, an advocate for Dense Breasts Canada and volunteer with Breast Screening Advocates Manitoba, described her reaction to the announcement as “cautiously optimistic.”

“It’s certainly something that we’ve been hoping to hear about for a long time but our work is not done,” Borgfjord said. “We’re going to be keeping an eye on things and making sure we move down to the age of 40, I hope, sooner rather than later.”

Shannon Coates, who has advocated for a lower screening age since she was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2022 at age 42, said she applauds the decision.

“(It) is a crucial step for that early diagnosis that women are looking for,” Coates said. “I’m happy and very optimistic that the government is moving forward with this. I really wish it was age 40, but I must say this is a small victory to at least lower it to 45 (by end of 2025).”

Survey results released Tuesday by Breast Cancer Canada state 94 per cent of Canadians believe screening should start at age 40. The survey was conducted from Aug. 28 to Aug. 30. The sample size of 1,505 Canadians comprised 771 females and 734 males.

Borgfjord encourages people to “be breast aware.”

“You need to be paying attention to your own health,” she said. “Do self exams; advocate for yourself.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca