Can a mammogram help identify heart disease?

[question everything]

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/mammogram-breast-calcium-deposits-heart-disease-study-rcna250561

Nancy Preston didn’t have a heart attack. Nor did she have chest discomfort, shortness of breath or heart palpitations — all symptoms of heart disease. Instead, a routine mammogram led to Preston having quintuple bypass surgery last summer. “It was just something horrible waiting to happen,” said the 67-year-old from New York City. “I did not have symptoms, except for feeling a little more fatigued than usual, which I attributed to age.”

Preston does have a family history of heart disease. Her mother had a heart attack and a double bypass, and an older sister had a heart attack and has a pacemaker. Even so, heart disease wasn’t top of mind for Preston, a yoga enthusiast who exercised daily and followed a healthy diet. Her high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes — two conditions that can increase a person’s odds of developing heart disease — had been under control before her health scare, she said.

In October 2024, Preston got her annual mammogram at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York. Doctors detected breast arterial calcifications, or BAC, on Preston’s mammogram. After Preston, who is participating in the study, was notified of her breast arterial calcification, she underwent a cardiac stress test, which monitors the heart during physical exertion.

“In [Preston’s] case, her heart function was very strong at rest, but during the stress portion, part of her heart muscle was not squeezing appropriately,” said Dr. Mary Ann McLaughlin, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital. “Her results indicated multivessel coronary artery disease.”

McLaughlin and Preston believe the BAC findings saved her life.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/mammogram-breast-calcium-deposits-heart-disease-study-rcna250561