Digital mammography can help predict heart disease

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[h=1]Digital mammography can help predict heart disease[/h]




Written by Yvette Brazier

Published: Sunday 27 March 2016





Mammography could help predict heart disease in women by detecting signs of calcium in the arteries of the breast. This could make early treatment possible, with potential benefits, especially for young women.
woman-and-heart-disease.jpg

Women who have calcifications in the breast
arteries are likely to have calcification in the coronary arteries too.



The findings are being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 65th Annual Scientific Session in Chicago, IL, and will also be published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.


Heart disease causes 22.4% of deaths among women in the US; cancer, particularly breast cancer, is responsible for 21.5% of fatalities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these are two leading causes of death among women in the US.


Around 37 million mammograms a year take place in the US. The American Cancer Society recommend yearly mammography for women aged 40-54 years and those at high risk for breast cancer, and every 2 years for those aged 55 years and older.


Digital mammography, used in 96% of mammography units in the US, can detect calcifications. This information could help to indicate how much calcium is building up in the coronary arteries too.
Coronary arterial calcification (CAC) is a very early sign of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and previous research has associated CAC with breast arterial calcification and atherosclerotic disease, heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular conditions.
[h=2]Breast arterial calcification correlates with CAC[/h] Current findings suggest that breast arterial calcification could be an equal or stronger indicator of future heart disease than high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Fast facts about women and heart disease



  • Heart disease killed 292,188 American women in 2009
  • 64% of women who died of heart disease have no prior symptoms
  • Heart disease affects 7.6% of black women, 5.8% of white women and 5.6% of Mexican American women.



Dr. Harvey Hecht, professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, NY, and director of cardiovascular imaging at Mount Sinai St. Luke's Hospital, and colleagues compared data for 292 women who underwent mammography and a non-contrast computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest within 1 year. None of the participants had a previous diagnosis of CVD.



Breast arterial calcification and CAC were both evaluated on scales from 0-12, where 12 was the highest.
Results showed that 124 women, or 42.5% of the participants, showed signs of breast arterial calcification, and 70% of these women also had CAC, while 63% of those whose CT scan showed CAC also had breast arterial calcification.



Half of the women aged under 60 years had both CAC and breast arterial calcification. In younger women with breast arterial calcification, 83% had CAC.
CAC was more likely in older women with high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease, but results indicate that in those with breast arterial calcification, CAC is three times more likely.
When evaluated against the Framingham Risk Score and the 2013 Cholesterol Guidelines Pooled Cohort Equations, outcomes were similar, but when researchers included 33 asymptomatic women with CAD, the tool appeared to be a more effective indicator than the others.
The findings suggest that subclinical atherosclerosis may predict the risk of heart disease more effectively than other risk factors.
[h=2]Call for reporting of calcification levels alongside breast cancer results[/h] One benefit of using mammography to predict heart disease is that each screening provides a readily available score without extra cost or intervention. Such reporting would enable patients and physicians to start working on prevention, maybe by taking a statin, say the authors.
Dr. Hecht says:
"Many women, especially young women, don't know the health of their coronary arteries. Based on our data, if a mammogram shows breast arterial calcifications, it can be a red flag, an 'aha' moment, that there is a strong possibility she also has plaque in her coronary arteries."
The researchers point out that atherosclerosis in breast arterial calcification is different from those in CAC, and they do not yet know how they are related. The team calls for further research to validate the findings. A study involving 39,000 subjects is currently underway in the Netherlands.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308309.php
 

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[h=1]میموگرافی کے ذریعے خواتین میں دل کے ممکنہ امراض کی شناخت بھی کی جاسکتی ہے
[/h] ویب ڈیسک اتوار 27 مارچ 2016
480007-mamo-1459096929-432-640x480.jpg

میموگرافی سے شریانوں میں کیلشیئم کی مقدار معلوم کی جاسکتی ہے جو امراضِ قلب کی جانب اشارہ کرتی ہیں۔ ۔فوٹو: فائل



نیویارک: اگرچہ میموگرافی خواتین میں بریسٹ کینسر کی شناخت کے لئے عام استعمال کی جاتی ہے لیکن اب اس کے ذریعے خواتین میں امراضِ قلب کی نشاندہی بھی ممکن ہے۔
اس کی وجہ یہ ہے کہ چھاتیوں میں کیلشیئم جمع ہوتی ہے جو میموگرام میں ظاہر ہوجاتی ہے اور ان کے جمع ہونے سے دل کی شریانوں میں بھی کیلشیئم کی بھرمار ہوجاتی ہے جو آگے چل کر امراضِ قلب کی وجہ بن جاتی ہے۔ میموگرافی کا جدید طریقہ ڈجیٹل میموگرافی ہے جو سینے میں کیلشیئم جمع ہونے کی شناخت کرسکتا ہے اس طرح یہ بھی معلوم کیا جاسکتا ہے کہ دل کی شریانوں میں کیلشیئم کی مقدار کتنی زیادہ ہے۔
دوسری جانب یہ عام خیال ہےکہ خواتین میں امراضِ قلب کی ابتدائی شناخت مردوں کے مقابلے میں قدرے مشکل ہوتی ہے اور میموگرافی سے کیلشیئم کے جمع ہونے سے اس کی بہتر پیش گوئی کی جاسکتی ہے۔
واضح رہے کہ امراضِ قلب کی انتہائی شروعات میں دل کی شریانوں میں کیلشیئم جمع ہونا شروع ہوجاتی ہے اور یہ فالج اور دل کے دورے کی وجہ بھی بن سکتی ہے۔ ان کی موجودگی وقت سے پہلے ہی امراضِ قلب سے خبردار کرسکتی ہیں۔ اس کی افادیت ہائی بلڈ پریشر اور کولیسٹرول سے بھی مؤثر ثابت ہوسکتی ہے۔

http://www.express.pk/story/480007/
 

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Siasat.pk - Blogger
[h=1]Mammograms Could Help Detect Heart Disease
[/h] By Jessica Firger On 3/25/16 at 4:36 PM
A new study suggests digital mammography could also be an effective way to screen women early for heart disease. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

Updated | The fear of breast cancer compels millions of women to go for a mammogram each year, but it turns out this routine test could also prevent an even bigger killer: heart disease. This means the routine test may also be a way to prevent heart attack and stroke in millions of women. It may also be a huge cost-saver in preventive health, since physicians insist women undergo this breast cancer screening on a regular basis.



The findings of the study were presented at the American College of Cardiologys 65th Annual Scientific Session and published March 24 in the journal Cardiovascular Imaging.



Women typically have calcifications in the blood vessels of breast tissue, often due to benign masses. These plaques also build up in the coronary arteries, but in this case they are far from harmless, since its often a signal of cardiovascular disease.


Prior research has found that breast arterial calcifications are an early sign of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of fats, cholesterols and plaques on the arterial walls.



The study involved 292 women who underwent digital mammography. The researchers found that 70 percent of women who showed evidence of breast arterial calcification also had coronary arterial calcification, indicating they should be closely monitored for potential heart attack and stroke. (Women were evaluated for coronary arterial calcifications with a non-contrast CT scan of the chest.)



Half of women under age 60 who had breast arterial calcification also had calcification in coronary arteries, which showed that physicians could use mammography to diagnose heart disease much earlier in life. Most remarkable, there were very few false positives when using mammography to evaluate a woman for heart disease.



While breast cancer takes the lives of approximately 4o,450 women in the U.S. each year, according to the American Cancer Society, its not the top killer of women. Most women, it turns out, should be much more fearful of heart disease, since heart attack and stroke take the lives of more than 292,000 American women annually.
However, many women arent aware that they should be paying much closer attention to their heart health. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 54 percent of women know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in women.



Primary care physicians typically dont run extensive tests on patients for heart disease unless its warranted after a basic evaluation that includes a blood pressure reading and reviewing a family history. Health experts currently recommend biennial mammograms for women age 50 to 74 who have an average risk for breast cancer. According to the Womens Heart Foundation, 435,000 women in the U.S. have heart attacks each year; 83,000 are under age 65 and 35,000 are under 55.

http://www.newsweek.com/mammograms-could-help-detect-heart-disease-440923
 

Night_Hawk

Siasat.pk - Blogger
[h=1]Mammograms May Double as Heart Disease Prevention Tool[/h]
Written by Brian Krans | Published on March 24, 2016





Researchers at Mount Sinai find digital mammography can help spot calcified plaques in breast tissue that can lead to heart attack or stroke.




The risk of heart disease may not get the same attention as breast cancer. However, it’s responsible for one in four deaths in women.

“We know, offhand, that women’s heart health is largely neglected in both research and practice. Hopefully that’s changing,” Dr. Laurie Margolies, associate professor of radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, told Healthline.
Breast cancer, on the other hand, is estimated to develop in one in every eight women with increasingly better survival rates the earlier it is detected.
032416_mammogramheart_BODY.jpg




One way of ensure both diseases are detected involves taking breast cancer screening technology and using it to spot early clues of heart disease.
In a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Imaging, researchers stated that using existing mammogram data could help women reduce their risks of fatal heart attacks and strokes.
“It’s really practice changing,” Margolies, the study’s lead author, said.


[h=2]Screening for Heart Health[/h]During a mammogram, a radiologist has to distinguish calcified tissue, whether in the breast or arteries.

While most often benign, calcified breast tissue could be the early stages of cancer.
Signs of calcification in arteries are often noted but dismissed because they’re unrelated to breast cancer.
“This is something that’s observed with every mammogram, but it’s never discussed,” Dr. Harvey Hecht, study author and director of cardiovascular imaging at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital, told Healthline.
Breast arterial calcification (BAC) can also be a sign of calcium buildup in other arteries, particularly those that supply oxygenated blood to the heart. When this occurs, a woman’s chance of heart attack and stroke dramatically increases.
Hecht, Margolies, and other researchers used the records of 292 women who had undergone digital mammography and computed tomography (CT scan). They tested to see if BAC detected during mammography could help detect coronary artery calcification (CAC).
Overall, the mammograms that showed BAC caught about 70 percent of the cases of CAC. Women aged 39 to 59 are typically at a lower risk of heart problems. However, the detection rate was as high as 81 percent.


[h=2]Early Detection[/h]The American Cancer Society recommends women aged 40 to 44 have the choice to begin annual mammograms. They also recommend women aged 45 to 54 get screened every year. After 55, women are encouraged to get a mammogram every two years.
Early detection can help doctors instruct patients on how to lower their risk of heart disease.

After menopause a women’s risk of heart attack and stroke is the same as men’s. However, detecting heart problems early can help women make the necessary treatment and lifestyle changes.

This is a free opportunity to help millions of women.

Dr. Harvey Hecht, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital

As 97 percent of mammography machines in the U.S. are digital, the implementation of such a practice may be done with existing technology, making investment minimal.
The mammography results could be forwarded to a woman’s doctor or cardiologist for follow-up. The risks for CAC and other potentially fatal conditions could then be addressed.
While this study offers a potential way to use existing technology in new ways, researchers say the premise needs to be tested by following live patients to determine whether detection of BAC would correlate to cases of CAC.
In the meantime, researchers are hopeful they’ve discovered a cost-effective way to improve the rates of the most prevalent health condition facing women today.
“This is a free opportunity to help millions of women,” Hecht said.

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/mammograms-double-as-heart-disease-prevention-tool#1