CHICAGO, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A quick check of a woman's mammogram can give doctors clues not only to whether she might have breast cancer but also to the condition of her heart arteries, researchers reported Wednesday.
The appearance of calcification in the main arteries of the breast, often easily recognized on a standard mammogram, indicates the woman has an increased risk of heart disease.
"We think the correlation between these calcifications and heart disease is strong enough to warrant the radiologist noting these findings and suggesting to the woman's primary care physician that further studies be implemented," said Dr. Kirk Doerger, a resident in radiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Doerger, in a presentation at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, said the appearance of calcified breast arteries indicates a 20 percent increased risk of heart disease in these women.
Although the 20 percent increase does not necessarily imply urgent risk, the signs of calcification in the breast should prompt a primary care physician to take a detailed family history of the patient, as well as check her blood pressure and do blood tests for levels of cholesterol and sugar, he said. Discussions about changes in lifestyle, especially if the woman smokes, also would be in order, he said.
Doerger explained that 365,000 women die of heart disease each year, compared with 41,000 deaths from breast cancer. About 64 percent of the heart-related deaths occur in women who did not have symptoms prior to the fatal attack.
"The check of breast arterial calcification is free information," said Doerger. Because the test is part of the mammogram, it does not expose the women to any more radiation, takes no more of their time and costs no more to do, he added.
Doerger showed X-rays in which calcified breast arteries were clearly visible even to the untrained observer. He said a radiologist should be able to determine the calcification levels of the arteries in a few minutes.
Putting the risk factor in perspective, Doerger said the chance of heart disease is 110 percent higher in a woman who has diabetes or high blood pressure, 80 percent higher if she has high cholesterol and 50 percent higher if she smokes cigarettes.
"The findings show that breast arterial calcifications occur in an age-related manner," said Dr. Hedvig Hricak, chairman of the department of radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. That means the older a woman is, the more likely she is to see the calcifications.
"But if these calcifications occur in a younger woman -- say in her 40s -- then it would be something that her primary care physician should now about because it could indicate early heart disease," Hricak told United Press International.
Doerger reviewed the records of more than 1,800 women who had undergone mammography for breast cancer screening and also had undergone angiography to assess condition of coronary arties within the same 12-month period. Then he devised a simple scoring method for the number of calcified breast arteries that could be seen on the mammogram.
There are three main breast arteries, and if all three were visible in both breasts, the patient was given a rating of 3.
Doerger found if a woman had a score of 1.5 or higher, she had a 20 percent increased risk of heart disease. Higher scores did not increase the risk further.
The Mayo Clinic is incorporating the findings into its radiology service routine -- creating a list of items to check off during an examination if the radiologist finds significant calcifications, he said.
