Wednesday, December 4 | 3:50 p.m.-4:00 p.m. | W7-SSCA08-6 | Room E353C
In this presentation, audience members will learn about the potential correlation between breast arterial calcifications (BACs) on mammography and the prevalence of various acute and chronic cardiovascular events.
Alyssa Watanabe, MD, from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, will present findings from a study of over 18,000 women. She and colleagues found that opportunistic reporting of BAC presence may improve cardiovascular risk stratification and early intervention strategies for asymptomatic women.
The team used a retrospective dataset of 33,167 digital mammograms involving 18,092 women with an average age of 56.8 years. It included data collected between 2007 and 2016. It determined BAC presence by using an AI device (cmAngio).
The researchers observed an overall BAC prevalence of 19.7% at the time of women’s first recorded mammograms. On age-adjusted analysis, they also highlighted significant associations between BAC presence and the prevalence of various health conditions.
Also, women diagnosed as having BACs showed higher correlation with having acute and chronic conditions. For example, the odds ratios (ORs) for pooled acute and chronic conditions were 2.37 and 1.51, respectively. Additionally, the OR values for specific conditions such as heart failure, heart attack, and chronic kidney disease exceeded 2. The researchers noted that these findings point toward a strong correlation between BAC presence and disease prevalence.
Find out more about how this can help with care strategies by attending this session.
