Breast Implants - Breast Cancer Screening

The presence of radio-opaque breast implants may interfere with the sensitivity of screening mammography. Mammography is controversial in itself. Specialized radiographic techniques where the implant is manually displaced (Eklund views) may improve this somewhat, but approximately 1/3 of the breast is still not adequately visualized with a resultant increase in false-negative mammograms. A number of studies looking at breast cancers in women with implants have found no significant difference in stage of disease at time of diagnosis, and prognosis appears to be similar in both groups with augmented patients not a higher risk for subsequent cancer recurrence or death. Conversely, the use of implants for reconstruction after mastectomy for breast cancer also appears not to have a negative affect on cancer-related mortality.

An observation that patients with implants are more often diagnosed with palpable tumors (but not larger ones) suggest that tumors of equal size may be more easily palpated in augmented patients, and this may compensate somewhat for the potential impairment of mammography. This palpability is due to thinning of the breast by compression, innately smaller breasts a priori, and that the implant serves as a base against which the mass may be differentiated.

The presence of a breast implant does not influence the ability for breast conservation (lumpectomy) surgery for women who subsequently develop breast cancer, and does not interfere with delivery of external beam radiation (XRT) treatments that may be required. Fibrosis of breast tissue after XRT is common and an increase in capsular contracture rates would be expected.

However I cannot recommend chemotherapy or radiation for breast cancer treatment with or without breast implants. Natural treatment through a raw vegan diet has shown fantastic results. Many physicians question mammography and its use for breast cancer screening.  This exposure to rads is highly unecessary, since it takes  a breast cancer tumor the size of a pea to show up on a mammogram; self exam is a much better option say many.