Breast arterial calcification: a marker of medial vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease.
OBJECTIVE
Because previous studies have not distinguished between intimal (atherosclerotic) and medial vascular calcification, the prevalence and clinical significance of either condition in chronic or end-stage kidney disease (CKD or ESKD) are unknown. We hypothesized that breast arterial calcification (BAC) is exclusively medial and that mammography can serve as a useful marker of generalized medial calcification in CKD and ESKD.


METHODS
Arterial calcification was identified histologically in breast tissue or visually in mammograms and radiographs of extremities from patients with CKD or ESKD.


RESULTS
Medial calcification but no intimal calcification was present in all 16 specimens from patients with CKD or ESKD. In 71 women with ESKD, BAC was present on mammograms in 63% compared with 17% in women without renal insufficiency matched for age, race, and diabetes (P<0.001). Age and ESKD duration were significant, independent predictors of BAC. BAC was also present in 36% of mammograms from the same patients performed 5.5±0.7 years before the onset of ESKD (P<0.05 versus control) but in only 14% of patients with stage 3 CKD. Comparison of mammograms and extremity radiographs revealed that BAC was present in over 90% of patients with peripheral arterial calcification (PAC), and PAC was observed in less than 6% of patients without BAC.


CONCLUSIONS
BAC is a specific and useful marker of medial vascular calcification in CKD, and its prevalence is markedly increased in ESKD and advanced CKD.
Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, 1639 Pierce Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Valerie
V
Duhn
Ellen T
ET
D'Orsi
Samuel
S
Johnson
Carl J
CJ
D'Orsi
Amy L
AL
Adams
W Charles
WC
O'Neill
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001158:Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D001940:Breast / Q000098:blood supply*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D016015:Logistic Models; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*
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