A routine mammogram may reveal more than just signs of breast cancer.

New research suggests the scans could also help docs spot early warning signs of heart disease, the leading cause of death in women.

In the study, published March 9 in the European Heart Journal, scientists used artificial intelligence (AI) to examine more than 120,000 mammograms. The technology measured calcium deposits in arteries that run through breast tissue.

These calcium deposits, called breast artery calcification (BAC), can cause blood vessels to stiffen, a possible sign of heart failure.

Researchers found that women with the highest levels of calcification had double the risk of major heart problems, including heart attacks, stroke, heart failure and death, compared with women whose scans showed no calcification.

The findings could have a big impact because more than 40 million people in the United States receive mammograms every year.

For decades, doctors have noticed calcium depostis in these scans. But until recently, the information was rarely used to assess heart health.

AI now allows researchers to measure these deposits more precisely and on a large scale.

“If there is a way to educate women in a place ‘where they are’ anyway, like when getting a mammogram, it could be a game changer,” Dr. Mary Cushman, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Vermont who was not involved in the study, told The Washington Post.

Cushman said the findings were especially important for younger women.

“It is a clarion call that younger women do have risk, that it can be detected, and that detection of risk should lead to interventions to reduce risk, even at young ages,” she said.

Many women mistakenly think breast cancer is the top health threat they face. But heart disease causes far more deaths.

In fact, a recent report from the American Heart Association shows awareness of heart disease risk among women has been dropping in recent years, even as cases increase.

“Women are very under-screened and under-detected for cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Hari Trivedi, a radiology professor at Emory University, told The Post.

This gap helped inspire the research.

Nearly 70% of women age 40 or older stay up to date on mammograms, according to the American Cancer Society. 

The researchers analyzed mammograms from about 74,000 women treated at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta and nearly 50,000 women in the Mayo Clinic Enterprise.

Using AI, the team sorted artery deposits into four categories, ranging from none to severe.

Then the women were followed for about seven years on average to see who developed heart problems.

Those with severe calcification had twice the risk of a cardiovascular event compared with women with no calcium in the arteries.

Experts say the results do not mean mammograms should replace traditional heart screenings such as blood pressure or cholesterol tests.

But the scans could provide another early warning sign.

“I love the technology and I love the test,” Trivedi said. “But the answer is there is not yet any evidence to support that having a BAC score can alter your care or management.”

Some clinics already offer AI tools that detect these calcium deposits, though sometimes for an extra fee.

Doctors say the real benefit may come if the information is routinely reported.

“If radiologists start reporting it, we’ll start to accumulate the data we need — that’s the first step. There’s a trove of data here that’s been ignored,” said Dr. Lori Daniels of the University of California San Diego, who wrote an editorial about the research.

“Sometimes when people see a visualization of what’s going on in their arteries, something clicks and they get motivated,” she added.