ARRS Annual Meeting: Analysis of Breast Radiation Therapy and Breast Arterial Calcifications on Screening Mammography

San Diego, CA | May 1, 2025—Findings from a Certificate of Merit Online Poster presented during the 2025 ARRS Annual Meeting suggest that breast radiation therapy exposure does not impact the prevalence of mammographic breast arterial calcification—therefore, not impacting its utility as an imaging biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk.

“Our study is the first retrospective analysis of the association between breast cancer radiation therapy exposure and the presence of breast arterial calcification on screening mammography,” noted presenter Jessica Rubino, MD, from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH.

Rubino et al. performed an electronic health database query to identify women ages 40–75 years who had a screening mammogram between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012. After a chart review to extract data regarding breast cancer radiation therapy history, two breast imaging radiologists then reviewed mammograms for the presence of breast arterial calcification. The researchers used multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between breast radiation therapy exposure and breast arterial calcification, adjusting for age, BMI, smoking status, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, as well as use of statin and antihypertensive medication.

Of the 1,155 women included in this analysis, 222 (19.2%) had mammographic evidence of breast arterial calcification, 122 (10.6%) had a history of radiation therapy exposure, and 39 (32%) women with radiation therapy exposure had breast arterial calcification on the index mammogram obtained at least 2 years after completing radiation therapy.

Compared to women without radiotherapy, women with a history of breast radiation therapy exposure had higher odds of breast arterial calcification (OR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.43–3.28; p = 0.0008). After multivariable adjustment, however, this association became nonsignificant, with the maximally adjusted model demonstrating an OR of 1.52 (0.95–2.40; p = 0.07).  

North America’s first radiological society, the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) remains dedicated to the advancement of medicine through the profession of medical imaging and its allied sciences. An international forum for progress in radiology since the discovery of the x-ray, ARRS maintains its mission of improving health through a community committed to advancing knowledge and skills with the ARRS Annual Meeting, two radiology journals—American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR) and Roentgen Ray Review (R3)—InPractice magazine, ARRS Symposia, free-access multimedia from our Global Partner Societies, as well as awarding scholarships via The Roentgen Fund®.

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