Mammograms are widely known as a tool to detect breast cancer, but a new study shows they may also help doctors find early signs of heart disease in women.
The research, presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25), highlights how artificial intelligence (AI) can analyze mammograms to find calcium buildup in breast arteries — a possible early warning sign of heart problems.
In the United States, about 40 million women get mammograms every year to check for breast cancer. These X-ray images can also show calcium in the breast arteries, but radiologists usually don’t report it. Now, scientists from Emory University believe this missed detail could provide useful information about a woman’s heart health.
Dr. Theo Dapamede, the lead author of the study, explained that they used AI to spot and measure the amount of calcium in breast arteries using mammogram images. The AI then gave each woman a heart risk score.
The study found that women under 60 who had high levels of calcium in their breast arteries were more likely to have heart problems like heart attacks or strokes later.
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for women in the U.S., but it’s often overlooked. Many women do not know they are at risk. Since mammograms are already a regular part of many women’s health checkups, using them to also screen for heart disease could be an easy way to help more women.
Calcium in the arteries means there might be damage or early signs of heart disease. Earlier research showed women with calcium in their arteries have a 51% higher risk of heart attack or stroke.
The AI tool in this study was trained on images and health records from over 56,000 women who had mammograms between 2013 and 2020 at Emory Healthcare. These women also had at least five years of follow-up health data, which helped the AI learn how calcium levels relate to future heart problems.
The tool worked well. It could tell if a woman had low, medium, or high risk of heart disease. It also showed that women with more calcium had a higher chance of serious heart events.
For women under 80, the more calcium they had, the more likely they were to have heart issues. The risk didn’t change much for women over 80, possibly because other health issues become more common at that age.
The difference was clear. About 95% of women with the lowest calcium levels were still healthy after five years. But only 86% of women with the highest calcium levels stayed healthy during that time. That’s a big difference and shows why this tool could be very useful.
Right now, the AI model is still being tested and isn’t available for public use. But if it passes all the safety checks and gets approval, it might be added to regular mammogram screenings in the future.
Researchers are also looking into how similar AI tools could find signs of other diseases, like kidney problems or poor blood flow in the legs, using the same mammogram images.
This study shows how a single test could tell us more than we ever thought possible. With the help of AI, mammograms might soon help women fight both cancer and heart disease — saving more lives in the process.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that Manganese can help clear arterial plaques and treat heart disease and Aspirin use linked to heart failure.
For more about heart health, please read studies about the blood thinner drug that can prevent strokes in people with hidden heart issues and new guidelines on daily aspirin for heart attack and stroke prevention.
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