What is breast calcification?

Breast disease has always been a problem that has troubled many women. Suffering from breast disease will not only easily affect the health of the body, but also easily lead to some complications. Breast punctate calcification is also a relatively common disease. Generally, there are many reasons for the formation of punctate calcification, which may be caused by long-term calcium deposition in the breast. Calcification is also a sign of breast cancer, and it is necessary to check whether it is benign or malignant in time.

1. The incidence of breast cancer calcification:

Calcification is one of the common imaging manifestations of breast cancer. Certain specific forms of calcification are risk factors for breast cancer. Statistics show that 65% of breast cancers have calcification, of which 70% are malignant calcifications.

2. The only X-ray sign of early breast cancer

Clustered microcalcifications are often the only X-ray sign of early breast cancer. The morphology, size, number and density of microcalcifications can reflect the nature and extent of the lesion. Tiny calcifications may be located inside or around the mass, with a total number of 6 to 15, with uneven density and varying sizes.

Mammography can improve the diagnosis rate of occult cancer, microcancer (less than 10mm in diameter) and early cancer. It is difficult to characterize a mass with a diameter less than 10 mm, but fine sand-type calcification is often a warning sign of malignant lesions. If there are signs such as surrounding structural disorder, bilateral asymmetry, and thickened vascular shadows at the same time, the possibility of malignant lesions is greater.

The number of tiny calcifications per unit area in malignant breast lesions is large, which may be caused by the combined effect of multiple factors such as cancer tissue necrosis and cancer cell secretion. The different densities and sizes of calcification points may be due to different lengths of calcium salt deposition time. As time goes by, the calcification that is formed first has a relatively high density and a relatively large volume.

4. Differences between benign and malignant calcifications

Compared with benign calcifications, the average density of malignant calcifications is lower, and their density and size are of greater value in distinguishing benign from malignant breast diseases. The distribution of tiny calcifications in breast X-rays seems to have no pattern to follow, but when pathology finds that the cancer occurs in the terminal duct, the calcification may be located in large areas of necrotic tissue or between cancer cells, or it may exist in the superior duct or at the bifurcation of the duct or in the adjacent alveolar cavity.

Regional calcification of cancerous foci may be of fine sand type or mixed type.

The calcification in the duct is worm-like, which may be related to the abnormal secretion of the tumor draining along the duct.

When the tumor is located in a larger duct, calcification far away from the lesion is often located in the peripheral lower-level duct, mainly in the form of fine sand. It may be caused by abnormal metabolites of cancer cells or backflow of cancer cells stimulating the terminal ducts and alveoli. Large numbers, fine particles, rough edges, and locations inside or outside the mass shadow indicate malignancy.