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Fatty axillary nodules on mammogram may signal cardiovascular disease risk
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025

Fatty, enlarged axillary lymph nodes on screening mammograms may predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the American Radiology Society (ARRS), held May 5-9 in Boston.
Jessica Rubino, MD, of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and colleagues used electronic medical record data from 907 women (ages 40 to 75) without known coronary heart disease who had routine screening mammography and who had cardiovascular risk factors available within a year of the index mammogram (2011-2012).
The researchers found that 19.1% of women had fatty enlarged nodules (>20 mm in length due to a dilated fatty sinus). Women with fatty enlarged nodules had a high CVD risk, as determined by the pooled cohort equation (>7.5% odds of major adverse cardiovascular events [MACE] within 10 years; odds ratio [OR] 2.6; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5 to 4.2), and a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes (OR 4.0; 95% CI 2.1 to 7.7) and hypertension (OR 2.5; 95% CI 1.6 to 4.0).
An association was also noted between fatty enlargement nodules and a trend toward higher risk of MACE (OR 1.7; 95% CI 0.9 to 3.1) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (OR 1.4; 95% CI 0.9 to 2.1).
"Integrating fatty enlargement nodules into CVD risk models has the potential to improve CVD risk stratification without additional costs or additional testing," Rubino said in a statement.
"Fatty, enlarged axillary lymph nodes visualized on screening mammography may improve the ability to identify women who might benefit from CVD risk reduction strategies and more intensive risk assessment with coronary artery CT."