Breast cancer advocates in Sask. call for reform of new screening guidelines

Breast cancer awareness advocates are calling for reforms to Canada’s new breast cancer screening guidelines, released last week.

Lisa Vick was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, when the 49-year-old discovered she had dense breast tissue.

“I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t even know there was a breast density scale at the time,” she told CTV News.

Women with dense breast tissue have a higher risk factor for breast cancer than women with a family history of the disease, according to Dense Breasts Canada. The company also said dense breast tissue is harder to detect on a mammogram.

“Mammograms are not enough for women with dense breasts. Dense tissue is white on a mammogram and cancer is white on a mammogram, so there is a masking effect,” said Jennie Dale, co-founder and executive director of Dense Breasts Canada.

)Source: Dense Breasts Canada)

According to Dale, that is why her organization wants women with dense breasts to undergo additional screening in the form of an ultrasound.

“If you get that extra screening ultrasound, or an MRI if you’re at high risk, you have a greater chance of finding cancer early because an ultrasound picks up two to three extra cancers per thousand women that are missed on a mammogram,” she said.

Dale is lobbying to change the new Canadian breast cancer guidelines, published last week, which do not recommend MRI or ultrasound for women with dense tissue.

“Doctors are following the task force guidelines, and so women will likely have a harder time getting that extra screening,” she said.

Federal Minister of Health Mark Holland is also calling for a revision of the guidelines.

“I’ve asked the chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, to convene experts over the next 60 days to look at the evidence and make sure we’re giving women the best advice for their health,” Holland told CTV News.

Lisa Vick says it’s important for women to be well-informed so they can take better care of their health.

“I have now moved on and I am healing and doing well. I now advocate for women to be able to learn more about their health,” she said.

Until the guidelines are revised again, Vick and Dale urge women to educate themselves about breast health.

They hope that if Saskatchewan lowers the age at which women can get mammograms without a doctor’s referral to 40, more women can learn more about the density of their breasts.

The change is expected to take effect in January.