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Beyond Breast Cancer 🩻❤️: When a Mammogram Warns the Heart

Dr RR Baliga's "Got Knowledge Doc" Podkast·Dr RR Baliga, MD, MBA·8 October 2026·2 min

About this episode

🩻 Could a mammogram also offer a window into cardiovascular risk? ❤️ Breast arterial calcification (BAC), once largely dismissed as incidental, is increasingly recognized as a cardiovascular risk signal. Greater BAC burden has been associated with adverse outcomes, including stroke and heart failure. Maryland now requires BAC notification on routine mammograms. 💡 The practical message: see BAC → think cardiovascular risk assessment. ⚠️ But BAC ≠ coronary artery calcium, and we still lack randomized evidence that BAC-directed intervention improves outcomes. Perhaps the mammogram is becoming a two-for-one screening opportunity.