Manitoba lowering breast cancer screening age to 40

Manitoba is lowering the minimum age for breast cancer screening, a move being welcomed by advocates. As previously promised, the minimum age for breast cancer screening in Manitoba will be lowered to 45, starting on Jan. 2. Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told 680 CJOB it’s a vital step for improving public health. “This is something that women have been asking for in this province for years, and we listen to women. We respect that women’s health-care needs need to be invested in,” Asagwara said. “This is a big win for women in this province.” Asagwara says the province intends to lower the age to 40 by the end of 2026. Get weekly health news Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy . Jenny Borgfjord of Breast Cancer Screening Advocates of Manitoba says women aged 40 to 49 who have mammograms are 44 per cent less likely to die than women who do not have mammograms. “If you find any type of breast cancer at stage one, the five-year survival rate is close to 100 per cent,” Borgfjord said. Breast cancer survivor Fiona McIntyre says a miscommunication between her doctor and a mammography clinic is the reason her cancer was detected. “When I hit 45, I went to my doctor for a mammogram, and he said, ‘No, you don’t need one, we don’t do that here until 50,'” she said. She was mistakenly labelled an urgent case after telling her doctor of a family history of breast cancer, and was screened shortly after. Her mammogram results found cancer, and she underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. “I would still be sitting here, having just turned 50, still waiting for my first mammogram appointment,” she said, adding that she welcomes the expanded eligibility. CancerCare Manitoba vice-president Dr. Donna Turner says it’s a good first step in expanding breast cancer treatment in the province, and that, in turn, treatment services will also need to be expanded. She adds the minimum age requirement only applies to screenings for people with no risk factors or symptoms; those with symptoms can get a mammogram regardless of age. “If you have symptoms, please go and see your health-care provider right away because you will then go into the queue in the diagnostic category, and it’s a very different experience you will have there,” she said, adding that wait times for screening and diagnostic tests vary across the province.

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