Breast Implants & Interference with Mammography

An implant can interfere with the detection of early breast cancer because it may "hide" suspicious lesions in the breast during an x-ray exam.  It is especially important for women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer to consider this before having implants.   The earlier cancer is detected, the better the chance for a cure.

Regular self-examination is also very important for all women but especially if you have implants.

Since the breast is compressed during mammography, it is possible, but rare, for an implant to rupture.  These problems can be reduced, if not eliminated, by asking if the personnel at the facility are experienced in performing mammography on women with implants.

Before the mammography exam, you should tell the technologist that you have implants.  The technician should take special care when compressing the breast to avoid rupture.  Also, an experienced technician should know how to push the implant away from the breast tissue to get the best possible views of the tissue.  Even when this special technique is used, some breast tissue may be missed in the x-ray.  More x-ray views are necessary with these special techniques; therefore, women with breast implants will receive more radiation.  However, the benefit of the mammogram in finding cancer outweighs the risk of the additional x-rays.

Eklund Distraction Technique

 

 

 

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