Breast cancer screening update

The AHS Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Program, on behalf of the Alberta Breast Cancer Screening Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) Committee, is pleased to announce the release of updated breast cancer screening clinical practice guidelines for the province. Updates are based on the latest available evidence and input from many experts, including family physicians and radiologists.

Most notably, the recommended age for biennial screening for average-risk women has been lowered from 50 to 45. Alberta is the first province in Canada to make this change, which will expand the benefits of routine screening to more people. Additional primary changes include the following:

• Adding a higher-than-average risk category.
• Adding recommendations for those with extremely dense breasts: annual mammography and considering annual breast ultrasound and/or clinical breast exam.
• Increasing the minimum recommended age for screening for those with a family history and/or chest radiation from 25 to 30.
• Updating the language and inclusion criteria to include LGBTQ2S+ who would also benefit from screening.

Physicians are encouraged to recommend biennial screening mammograms for patients who are at average risk beginning at age 45.

Visit screeningforlife.ca to read the full updated CPGs.