Women aged 45 will be called for mammography according to the itinerary of the screening vans

Women who turn 45 in 2025 will be invited throughout the year to undergo mammograms, depending on the region where they live and the route of the Portuguese League Against Cancer vans, announced the Ministry of Health.

In early December 2024, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) published an update to the standard on population-based screening for breast cancer, which was extended this year to women between 45 and 74 years old, when until now it was intended for women between 50 and 69 years old, in compliance with the recommendations of the European Union.

Giving an update on the expansion of screening, the Secretary of State for Health, Ana Povo, told Lusa today that the conditions for its operationalization on the ground are assured: “Everything is set up and everything is ready”.

“In 38 local health units (ULS), breast cancer screening is provided by the Portuguese League Against Cancer [LPCC], which has vans with the equipment to perform mammograms and, therefore, as the vans pass by, women throughout the year 2025 will be called to have a mammogram”, explained Ana Povo.

The Algarve is the only region in the country where breast cancer screening is not provided by the LPCC.

The minister stated that the entity responsible for screening in this region is the Algarve Oncology Association, adding that a protocol will be signed between the Algarve ULS and this association, which is already being mediated between these two institutions and the Executive Board of the SNS.

With this expansion of screening, it is expected that 1,050,000 women will be called annually for a mammogram.

“With this we aim to obtain significant health gains through earlier detection of breast cancer and thus contribute to a reduction in mortality,” he highlighted.

The Ministry of Health is now reviewing and finalizing the protocol that already existed with the Portuguese League Against Cancer, which must include this expansion.

“The protocol has already been reviewed by the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS) and by the Executive Board of the SNS and we already have a meeting scheduled in the coming weeks with the League to then sign the corrections to this protocol”, he said.

The DGS standard also introduces the replacement of the imaging technique with breast tomosynthesis, also known as 3D mammography.

Therefore, it is also necessary to meet with the two entities responsible for carrying out the screening, “so that we can gradually replace the devices over the course of this year and the next”, which implies an investment, which will need to be assessed “how it will be done and safeguarded”.

In Portugal, in 2020, 7,425 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in women, of which 6,346 (78%) were aged 45 or over, 4,821 (65%) were aged between 45 and 74 and 1,525 (20%) were aged 75 or over.

In 2021, 1,798 deaths were recorded, of which 828 (46%) were women aged between 45 and 74 and 1,671 (93%) were over 45 years old.

Population-based screening programs are associated with a reduced risk of death from breast cancer and the risk of diagnosis of advanced breast neoplasms in asymptomatic women aged between 50 and 69, says the DGS.

They are also associated with a reduced risk of death in asymptomatic women (between 45 and 49 years old), and may also be linked to a reduced risk of death in asymptomatic women between 70 and 74.

According to the DGS, there is no scientific information on the benefits or risks of continuing these programs for people aged 74 or over.