Breast arterial calcification linked to heart risk
Mount Sinai Radiology shared a study connecting breast arterial calcification seen on mammography with increased cardiovascular risk and urged radiologists to report those findings. The post frames mammography-detected calcifications as potentially useful cross-disciplinary signals for cardiology risk stratification. (x.com)
A routine mammogram can show calcium in breast arteries, and researchers say that finding may help flag women with higher heart risk. (ajconline.org) Breast arterial calcification means calcium has built up in the wall of small or medium breast arteries, a change radiologists can already see on screening images taken for breast cancer. It is different from a blocked heart artery, but cardiology groups say it is increasingly tied to later cardiovascular disease. (acc.org) The American College of Cardiology wrote in March 2026 that breast arterial calcifications appear in about 10% of women at age 40 and in roughly 50% by age 80. The group also cited studies linking the finding to higher rates of coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, diabetes and cardiovascular death. (acc.org) Mount Sinai is already running a recruiting clinical trial on whether patients should be told about these findings after mammography. The study, which began on September 29, 2021 and is scheduled to run through March 31, 2027, aims to measure breast arterial calcification rates in 5,708 women and test how sharing the result changes care decisions in another 508 women. (mountsinai.org) The push to report these findings has spread beyond one hospital. Northwell Health said it began universal reporting of breast arterial calcification on all mammograms in 2024, citing patient demand and evidence that the finding predicts later cardiovascular disease risk in women. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The case for reporting has grown as heart disease remains the leading cause of death in women and common risk scores often miss danger in younger women and some non-White patients. The American College of Cardiology said mammography may offer an extra screening signal in a test millions of women already receive. (acc.org) Recent studies have added numbers to that argument. A report presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of The Menopause Society found atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in 23% of women with breast arterial calcifications, compared with 13.9% in women without them, after about 18 years of follow-up in roughly 400 women. (contemporaryobgyn.net) Researchers still draw a line between a risk marker and a diagnosis. A 2024 Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances editorial said breast arterial calcifications are associated with cardiovascular risk, but the biology behind that link is still being worked out and there are no recommended standards yet for measuring or reporting the finding on routine mammograms. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) That leaves radiologists and cardiologists with a practical question rather than a settled rulebook: whether to treat a mammogram as a second screening window, one that looks for breast cancer and also offers a warning about the heart. Mount Sinai’s trial and similar reporting efforts are testing whether that extra line in a report changes what patients do next. (mountsinai.org)
