For many women, mammograms are just an uncomfortable fact of life. Over 60 percent of women over 40 and more than 70 percent of those over 50 have had at least one mammogram, to screen for signs of breast cancer. It's hard to go anywhere without being reminded of the importance of early detection, and most women are taking the message seriously.
Yet many women still haven't heard the news that we are ten times as likely to die from heart disease as from breast cancer, and that, ominously, deaths from heart disease are on the rise in women under 50. Prevention and early detection are every bit as important when it comes to matters of the heart.
Recetly, radiologists have become more aware of the importance of a bit of "bonus information" that might be gleaned from some womens' mammograms. When a mammogram is viewed by the radiologist, it is screened for signs of abnormal calcifications in the tissue of the breast. These abnormal areas can be red flags for cancer. Calcifications may also show up in the arteries feeding the breast tissue, and it turns out that this hardening of the arteries is often a marker for cholesterol build-up in the heart. In fact, women with this finding are more than twice as likely to have heart disease.
Next time you have a mammogram, ask your doctor whether the radiologist reported calcification in the breast arteries. Since the test is done primarily to screen for cancer, this "side-bar" type of information is often not discussed in detail, although one in six women over 55 will have this abnormality. Take the report to your primary doctor or cardiologist, and be sure that you get screened for important risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. Your doctor might even recommend a heart scan or a stress test, to get a better handle on your heart health. Take the initiative, and your mammogram may turn out to be your heart's best friend.
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