Doctors at Vermont’s largest hospital are questioning a recommendation from a federal task force that breast cancer screening for women in their 40s be scaled back.
Dr. Sally Herschorn is co-director of the breast imaging unit at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington. She says roughly a fifth of breast cancer diagnoses in recent years have been in women aged 40 to 49.
She tells the Burlington Free Press 10 women in the past week have canceled mammogram appointments because of the new recommendations from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force.
Fletcher Allen is continuing to recommend annual screenings for women 40 and older.