Awareness and attitudes of Russian physicians about breast arterial calcification — a new marker of cardiovascular risk in women

Objective. To evaluate the awareness of Russian radiologists and referring physicians concerning the clinical significance of breast arterial calcification (BAC), and to examine their perspectives on the necessity and approaches for informing women who have undergone mammography about BAC. Materials and methods. An anonymous survey was administered to 103 Russian radiologists, mammologists, oncologists, obstetrician-gynecologists, and therapists. The 24-item questionnaire collected information on demographics, work experience, type of medical organization, awareness of the association between BAC and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, practices related to informing patients about BAC, respondents’ opinions on BAC, and subsequent patient routing. Results. A total of 47.6% of respondents reported awareness of the association between BAC and CVD. Radiologists exhibited significantly greater awareness compared to other physician groups (p=0.036). Higher awareness was also found among those dedicating more than 25% of their working time to imaging, interpreting over 100 images annually, and participating in screening mammogram interpretation (p=0.006, p=0.008, and p=0.025, respectively). No significant association was observed between awareness and gender, age, region of residence, position, or type of medical organization. BAC was documented in imaging reports by 57.6% of physicians, of whom 39.5% either referred patients to a therapist or provided recommendations. The binary classification of BAC was used by 84.2% of physicians. In total, 80.6% of respondents indicated that information about identified BAC should be included in the report conclusion. Conclusion. This study is the first to show that Russian physicians have limited awareness of the association between BAC and increased CVD risk. Experienced radiologists are more likely to recognize the prognostic significance of BAC. Most respondents prefer a binary classification of BAC and consider it essential to document it in the report conclusion.