Radiology, Vol 194, 181-183, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Breast arterial calcification: association with coronary artery disease. Work in progress
AC Moshyedi, AH Puthawala, RJ Kurland and DH O'Leary
Department of Radiology, Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, PA 17822- 2007.
PURPOSE: To assess the association between mammographically detected breast
arterial calcification (BAC) and coronary artery disease (CAD) and diabetes
mellitus (DM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The records of 182 women (aged 39-92
years) who underwent both mammography and coronary arteriography were
retrospectively reviewed to determine BAC, CAD, and DM status. RESULTS: For
women aged less than 59 years (under-59 group) (n = 54), nearly all women
with BAC (n = 8) had CAD (n = 7) and also had DM (n = 6). For this group,
the positive predictive value of BAC for CAD was 0.88 and the negative
predictive value was 0.65 (chi 2 = 7.7, P < .05). DM was a confounding
variable. The positive predictive value of DM for CAD increased from 0.62
when BAC was absent to 1.00 when BAC was present (standard error of
difference, .22; P < .10). No significant association between BAC and
CAD was found for women aged 59 years and older (n = 128). CONCLUSION: BAC
in women aged less than 59 years may indicate an additional risk factor for
CAD, particularly in diabetic patients.
