Nova Scotia Liberal says province not doing enough to screen for breast cancer

A Liberal member for Clayton Park West told a legislature committee on Tuesday that the province's breast screening program should include MRI scans for women with dense breasts.

The Nova Scotia Liberal member who introduced a bill to improve breast cancer detection says the province isn’t doing enough to offer cancer screening to women who need it.

Rafah DiConstanzo, Liberal member for Clayton Park West, told a legislature committee on Tuesday that the province’s breast screening program should include MRI scans for women with dense breasts.

Women who have dense breasts are at greater risk for breast cancer than are other women, according to Dense Breasts Canada. The group adds that dense breasts make it more difficult for breast cancer to be detected by mammograms.

She introduced her bill — the Find It Early Act — on March 6, which would have the government pay for more detailed cancer screenings of women with dense breasts. DiConstanzo, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, said her cancer could have been caught earlier if MRI screening was available to her.

“There are so many worse situations, I was the lucky one,” she told the committee.

DiConstanzo said she had gone for routine mammograms since her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago. But when DiConstanzo turned 60, a biopsy failed to register abnormalities, and she did not get a breast cancer diagnosis until nine months later after she found a second lump.

Since then, DiConstanzo has had a mastectomy and four rounds of chemotherapy.

“Life has changed for me night and day since that day,” DiConstanzo told the standing committee. “Chemo has done so much damage to me, my life, my work and my family. I’m still not back six months after my chemo.”