 Doctors recommend that women with breast implants have mammograms. However, according to the FDA, pressure on the breast (compression) during mammography can cause implant rupture. In 2004, Brown reported that the FDA had received dozens of reports of implants rupturing or leaking during mammography.
Breast implants also can hinder the exactness of mammograms because the implant appears as a solid white shape, obscuring above or below swelling. There are have been developed specific mammogram techniques to make sure that as much breast tissue as possible is examined in the woman with implants. This requires taking additional images, called dislocation views, which undergo the woman to more radiation. In 2004 there were published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicating that 55% of breast growths were not primarily detected on mammograms for women with implants, even though the additional images were used. This compares to about 30% of tumors that were not initially identified for women who did not have breast implants. These growths were subsequently detected in later mammograms. Adding up to making growths more difficult to detect, implants cause "false positive" results when broad scarring and calcium deposits imitate the appearance of cancer, subsidiary making the deposits difficult to distinguish from cancer on a mammogram. Calcium deposits may be felt as units or bumps under the skin around the implant. Biopsy may be essential to determine whether these are cancerous. Instead of mammograms can be used Ultrasound and MRIs to distinguish breast cancer, but this adds to the cost of screening and probably would not be covered by health insurance.
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