Abstract
Background
Breast arterial calcification is a frequently benign finding on mammography that usually is not reported. An increasing attention has been formed to determine the association between breast arterial calcification (BAC) and Coronary artery disease. In the current study we have aimed to evaluate the relationship between BAC on mammography with coronary CT angiography findings.
Methods
The case control study was carried out on 60 women; 30 CAD and 30 healthy subjects as control, admitted to Golestan hospital radiology department. The mammography was performed in two views; Craniocaudal (CC) view and mediolateral oblique (MLO) and BAC was graded based on the severity and extent of calcifications. Coronary Arterial Calcification (CAC) were scored by Agatston criteria.
Results
Overly, 36 patients (60%) were positive for BAC. Twenty six out of them (72%) were CAD. There was a positive significant correlation between BAC and CAD. The sensitivity and specificity of BAC for CAD were 69% and 47%, respectively. Moreover, the severe BAC scores were significantly higher in CAD patients than non-CAD.
Conclusion
Our findings in line with several previous studies indicated the positive significant association between BAC and CAD occurrence. While the sensitivity and specificity of BAC in diagnosis of CAD is low, suggested the using of BAC just as a CAD risk factor. The relatively low sample size is the major limitation of the study.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abi Rafeh N, Castellanos M R, Khoueiry G, Meghani M, El-Sayegh S, Wetz R V, Lafferty J C, Kleiner M, Tamburrino F, Kiss A, Raia C, Kowalski M (2012). Association between coronary artery disease diagnosed by coronary angiography and breast arterial calcifications on mammography: meta-analysis of the data. J Womens Health (Larchmt), 21(10): 1053–1058
Akhabue E, Thiboutot J, Cheng J W, Vittorio T J, Christodoulidis G, Grady K M, Lerakis S, Kosmas C E (2014). New and emerging risk factors for coronary heart disease. Am J Med Sci, 347(2): 151–158
Akinola R A, Ogbera O A, Onakoya J A, Enabulele C E, Fadeyibi I O (2011). Mammograms and breast arterial calcifications: looking beyond breast cancer: a preliminary report. BMC Res Notes, 4(1): 207
Arleo E K, Hendrick R E, Helvie M A, Sickles E A (2017). Comparison of recommendations for screening mammography using CISNET models. Cancer, 123(19): 3673–3680
Becker C R, Kleffel T, Crispin A, Knez A, Young J, Schoepf U J, Haberl R, Reiser M F (2001). Coronary artery calcium measurement: agreement of multirow detector and electron beam CT. AJR Am J Roentgenol, 176(5): 1295–1298
Chadashvili T, Litmanovich D, Hall F, Slanetz P J (2016). Do breast arterial calcifications on mammography predict elevated risk of coronary artery disease? Eur J Radiol, 85(6): 1121–1124
Crystal P, Zelingher J, Crystal E (2004). Breast arterial calcifications as a cardiovascular risk marker in women. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther, 2(5): 753–760
Hendriks E J, de Jong P A, van der Graaf Y, Mali W P, van der Schouw Y T, Beulens J W (2015). Breast arterial calcifications: a systematic review and meta-analysis of their determinants and their association with cardiovascular events. Atherosclerosis, 239(1): 11–20
Henkin Y, Abu-Ful A, Shai I, Crystal P (2003). Lack of association between breast artery calcification seen on mammography and coronary artery disease on angiography. J Med Screen, 10(3): 139–142
Kandaswamy E, Zuo L (2018). Recent Advances in Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease: Role of Science and Technology. Int J Mol Sci, 19(2): 424
Kim H, Greenberg J S, Javitt M C (1999). Breast calcifications due to Mönckeberg medial calcific sclerosis. Radiographics, 19(5): 1401–1403
McEvoy J W, Blaha M J, Defilippis A P, Budoff M J, Nasir K, Blumenthal R S, Jones S R (2010). Coronary artery calcium progression: an important clinical measurement? A review of published reports. J Am Coll Cardiol, 56(20): 1613–1622
McEvoy J W, Blaha M J, Defilippis A P, Budoff M J, Nasir K, Blumenthal R S, Jones S R (2010). Coronary artery calcium progression: an important clinical measurement? A review of published reports. J Am Coll Cardiol, 56(20): 1613–1622
Mostafavi L, Marfori W, Arellano C, Tognolini A, Speier W, Adibi A, Ruehm S G (2015). Prevalence of coronary artery disease evaluated by coronary CT angiography in women with mammographically detected breast arterial calcifications. PLoS One, 10(4): e0122289
Pletcher M J, Tice J A, Pignone M, Browner W S (2004). Using the coronary artery calcium score to predict coronary heart disease events: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med, 164(12): 1285–1292
Polonsky T S, Greenland P (2017). Breast arterial calcification: expanding the reach of cardiovascular prevention. Circulation, 135(6): 499–501
Polonsky T S, McClelland R L, Jorgensen N W, Bild D E, Burke G L, Guerci A D, Greenland P (2010). Coronary artery calcium score and risk classification for coronary heart disease prediction. JAMA, 303(16): 1610–1616
Reddy J, Son H, Smith S J, Paultre F, Mosca L (2005). Prevalence of breast arterial calcifications in an ethnically diverse population of women. Ann Epidemiol, 15(5): 344–350
Rotter M A, Schnatz P F, Currier A A Jr, O’Sullivan D M (2008). Breast arterial calcifications (BACs) found on screening mammography and their association with cardiovascular disease. Menopause, 15(2): 276–281
Shirzadi S, Nadrian H, Asghari Jafarabadi M, Allahverdipour H, Hassankhani H (2017). Determinants of mammography adoption among iranian women: What are the differences in the cognitive factors by the stages of test adoption? Health CareWomen Int, 38(9): 956–970
Talaei M, Sarrafzadegan N, Sadeghi M, Oveisgharan S, Marshall T, Thomas G N, Iranipour R (2013). Incidence of cardiovascular diseases in an Iranian population: the Isfahan Cohort Study. Arch Iran Med, 16(3): 138–144
Topal U, Kaderli A, Topal N B, Özdemir B, Yeşilbursa D, Cordan J, Ediz B, Aydinlar A (2007). Relationship between the arterial calcification detected in mammography and coronary artery disease. Eur J Radiol, 63(3): 391–395
Yildiz S, Toprak H, Aydin S, Bilgin M, Oktay V, Abaci O, Kocas C (2014). The association of breast arterial calcification and metabolic syndrome. Clinics (Sao Paulo), 69(12): 841–846
Zeb I, Budoff M (2015). Coronary artery calcium screening: does it perform better than other cardiovascular risk stratification tools? Int J Mol Sci, 16(3): 6606–6620
Zgheib M H, Buchbinder S S, Abi Rafeh N, Elya M, Raia C, Ahern K, Smith M C, Costantino T, Flory M J, Lafferty J C, Castellanos M R (2010). Breast arterial calcifications on mammograms do not predict coronary heart disease at coronary angiography. Radiology, 254(2): 367–373
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank all our colleagues in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hanafi, M.G., Zadeh, M.S., Momeni, M. et al. Relationship between breast arterial calcification on mammography with coronary CT angiography findings. Front. Biol. 13, 309–313 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11515-018-1510-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11515-018-1510-6