Advocates are speaking out about Nova Scotia’s breast-screening policies after the federal health minister temporarily paused the work of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, opting for an external expert review.
The review requested by Holland revealed the structure, governance and methodology used by the task force requires further examination.
Jennie Dale, executive director of Dense Breasts Canada, voiced the organization’s concerns to the review board.
She said the task force is putting the lives of Canadians at risk, especially those who are affected by their guidelines, which oppose supplemental breast screening.
“The task force lacks accountability, credibility, ethics, it doesn’t use current evidence, and it does not use the input from experts,” Dale said. “The health minister recognized the dangers of that task force.”
A petition to reverse Holland’s decision was signed by Dr. Siân Iles, medical adviser to the Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program.
“To find those cancers with MRI or ultrasound means that you’re preventing deaths,” Dale said. “We have to use those surrogate markers and Dr. Iles is refusing to recognize the validity of those surrogate markers and all the evidence that’s been taking place for 30 years.”
A study published in 2019, from the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine, revealed ultrasound screenings have notably improved breast cancer discovery in women with dense breasts.
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Dr. Paula Gordon, a clinical professor of radiology at the institute, published an updated study on Feb. 21. She said after evaluating more than 5,200 women over an 18-month period, 32 cancers were discovered — more than double the number detected by mammogram scans.
The categories of breast density range from A to D, with C and D classified as ‘dense.’
“The women in category ‘D’ have a higher risk of breast cancer and their cancers are more likely to be overlooked,” Gordon said. “Our study showed that 84 per cent of the cancers that we found were in the women in category ‘C,’ and over 60 per cent of them were not high-risk.”
Dale said she is frustrated with the province when it comes to their repeated assertion that Nova Scotia’s ‘high-risk program’ makes up for a lack of screening options.
“We have found that high-risk program is the best kept secret in Nova Scotia, most women don’t even know it exists,” Dale said. “It is not a sufficient justification for denying women supplemental screening.”
According to Dale, most women with dense breasts are not usually classified as high-risk. Instead, they are referred to as ‘elevated risk.’
“They don’t fall into the high-risk category, so to say that you have a high-risk program is basically, for us, gaslighting,” Dale said. “You are totally negating the issue.”
Tanya MacPhee was inspired to start advocating for supplemental breast screening after discovering she had category ‘C’ density. She too feels the high-risk program is insufficient.
The results of a poll she posted on her Facebook group, Nova Scotia Breast Screening Advocates, showed that only two people out of about 116 were aware of the program.
MacPhee said the high-risk program advertised by government only benefits a slim margin of Nova Scotians, leaving the majority of women with dense breasts without access to life-saving supplemental screening.
“It feels like we’re a number or a statistic,” MacPhee said. “The government, or one or two people are trying to assess if it’s worth it…of course it’s worth it.”
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