Doctors have long advocated for patients to undertake regular mammography to find out their likelihood of developing breast cancer. However, the diagnostic test may also hold the key to detecting heart disease risk in women as well.
In a new study set to be presented at the 65th annual conference of the American College of Cardiology on April 3, researchers from Mount Sinai St. Luke's hospital in New York described how a female patient's calcium levels in the arteries of her breast may also indicate her susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.
They said that the build of calcium in the breasts, which can be detected through digital mammography, can provide a better indicator of coronary arterial calcification (CAC) than any other well-known risk factors for heart disease such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
While previous research have established a possible connection between breast arterial calcification and heart disease events such as heart attack and stroke, the latest study shows a more direct link between how much calcified plaque is present in the coronary and mammary arteries.
Lead author Harvey Hecht pointed out that many women are not aware about how healthy their coronary arteries are.
He said that undergoing a mammogram can detect the amount of calcium in the arteries of patient's breast, which in turn can help reveal just how much calcified plaque has been building up in her coronary arteries as well.
To find out the relationship between breast arterial calcification and coronary arterial calcification, Hecht and his colleagues examined data collected from 292 female patients who received digital mammography and computed tomography (CT) scan of their chest.
The digital mammography revealed that 42.5 percent of the patients had calcium build up in their breasts. These women were shown to be much older and suffered more from chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure than those who did not show any calcified plaque in their breast.
Meanwhile, the CT scans showed that 47.5 percent of the patients showed signs of calcium build in their coronary arteries. These women were also much older and experience a number of chronic illnesses compared to those who did not have coronary artery calcium.
Later analyses of the data showed that detection of breast arterial calcium in patients was roughly 70 percent accurate at determining the presence of calcified plaque in coronary arteries as well. In some cases, breast arterial calcium also served as a better risk indicator for identifying patients that have high susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Laura Margolies, one of the senior authors of the study, said that women should ask their radiologists if there are any calcium build up detected in their arteries of the breast in their mammogram. Doctors can use this piece of information along with other standard risk factors to find out if a patient needs to undergo more diagnostic tests or treatment.
Margolies added that seeing evidence of breast arterial calcium in their breast could also serve as a primary motivating factor for women to take action in order to help reduce their likelihood for heart disease.
