Gatineau women wait up to 5 months for breast cancer test

Women in Gatineau are waiting up to five months for a diagnosticX-ray to find out if they have cancer after abnormalities are found in their breasts.

Wait times for diagnostic mammograms at the Gatineau hospital are five months, theregional health authority reported, despite national guidelines that recommend a maximum two-week waiting period.

'The women that will have to waitfour orfive months are people that we're pretty sure that it's a cyst.' Dr. Guy Morissette,l'Agence de la sant et des services sociaux de l'Outaouais

Outaouais region health authority spokesman Dr. Guy Morissette said the diagnostic mammogram isa more precise X-ray performed on the breast of a woman whose regular mammogram shows a lesion or lump.

He blamed the long waits on the fact that the Gatineau hospital is shortseven to 10 X-ray technicians.

Urgent cases sent to other hospitals

But he saidwomenare being sent to other hospitals so they can get the mammograms within the recommended waiting period if doctors think their case is likely to be cancer.

"The women that will have to waitfour orfive months are people that we're pretty sure that it's a cyst," he said.

A cyst isa lump filled with fluid that is usually harmless.

A national breast cancer screening committee adopted guidelines in 1999 suggesting that patients who receive abnormal results from a mammogram get a medical first assessment no more than two weeks later, according to a 2005 Public Health Agency of Canada report.