Who Should be Tested & When
Breast Cancer Screening
Average risk:
- This means you are 50 to 74 years old with no first-degree relative (parent, sibling, or child) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
- The Ontario Breast Screening Program or OBSP recommends that most people aged 50 – 74 with an average risk be screened every two years by getting a mammogram.
- A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast that can find abnormal changes in the breast, even when they may be too small to feel or see.
High risk:
- If you are age 30 to 69 and meet the eligibility criteria for the High Risk Ontario Breast Screening Program (high risk means that you have a family history of breast cancer), you must get screened every year with both mammography and an MRI.
To book a screening appointment, call 1-800-668-9304 or go to
Ontario Breast Screening Program Locations. For more information about breast cancer screening, visit the
Ontario Health Cancer Care Ontario website.
Find a breast screening location near you
See listing of breast screening locations in the MHCW Region
Cervical Screening
The Ontario Cervical Screening Program recommends that:
- If you are 25 or older, and have been sexually active, you should have a Pap test every 3 years.
If you have a cervix, please keep getting a Pap test every 3 years until you are at least age 70, or until a doctor or nurse practitioner says that you can stop. If you are 70 years old, and have had 3 or more normal tests in the past 10 years, you can stop getting pap tests.
To learn more about cervical screening, talk to your family doctor or visit
Cancer Care Ontario’s website.
Colorectal Cancer Screening
The kind of screening test you get depends on whether you are at average risk of getting colorectal cancer or at increased risk of getting colorectal cancer:
- You are at average risk if you are 50 to 74 years old with no first-degree relative (parent, brother, sister or child) who has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
- You are at increased risk if you have a family history of colorectal cancer that includes one or more first-degree relatives (parent, brother, sister or child) with the disease.
To learn more about your risk level and if you should get screened for colorectal cancer, talk to your family doctor or visit
Cancer Care Ontario’s website. If you don’t have a family doctor, you can request an at-home test (called FIT kit) through Health Connect Ontario by calling 1-866-828-9213 or 1-866-797-0007.
Lung Cancer Screening
You may be able to get lung cancer screening if you:
- Are 55 to 74 years old, and
- Have smoked cigarettes every day for at least 20 years (it does not have to be 20 years in a row, which means there could be times when you did not smoke)
Lung cancer screening is not offered within the Mississauga Halton Central West Region, but is offered within the province of Ontario. To learn more about lung cancer screening, talk to a health care provider or visit
Cancer Care Ontario’s website.
Cancer screening toolkit resources
Posters
Cancer screening poster
Breast cancer screening poster
Cervical cancer screening poster
Colon cancer screening poster
OBSP locations in MHCW
Postcards
How to get checked – breast cancer
Importance of getting a mammogram
Preventing cervical cancer
Importance of getting a Pap test
How to get checked – colon cancer
Importance of getting a FIT Kit
Regional Cancer Programs
If you need accessible version of any document listed on this page, contact us at mhcwrcp@thp.ca