Read about the mammogram processes for Boston breast implant patients. Know more about reading and interpreting mammograms in breast implants.
All women who are 40 years of age need to have an annual mammogram for the purpose of screening for breast cancer. Women who have a family history of breast cancer may be advised by their primary care physician to start this screening at an earlier age. When it comes to the time frame and frequency of screening for breast cancer with a mammogram, women who have breast implants should be treated exactly as women who don’t have breast implants. In other words, women with breast implants should have their first mammogram at age 40, unless there is a family history of breast cancer. If a woman, who has breast implants has a family history of breast cancer, then her primary care physician may start her screening process at an earlier age, similar to that of a woman without breast implants.
Dr. Moss finds that sometimes women are concerned that the process of having a mammogram can damage their breast implants. This concern is especially prevalent in patients who have already undergone mammograms prior to implantation with breast implants. These patients are concerned that their implants are going to be “squished” in the mammography machine and therefore their implants will “leak” or rupture prematurely. Dr. Moss wants to put his patients at ease and let them know that this should not be the case. This is because mammograms are performed differently when a patient has been implanted with breast implants. The mammogram is performed in a way that applies very little pressure to the breast implants.
When a patient who has implants, has her mammogram, there are two sets of mammograms performed for the radiologist to read. The pictures in this article demonstrate these two mammogram tests being performed in a patient who has silicone gel implants, implanted beneath her pectoralis muscle. The test is identical for patients who have saline implants beneath their pectoralis muscle. It is also similar when the patient has her implants placed above the pectoralis muscle (either saline or gel).
