Mammograms for women with breast implants

The FDA regulates mammography facilities in the United States under the Mammography Quality Standards Act. Screening mammography remains the standard way to look for breast cancer, including in women who have breast implants.

Implants, saline or silicone, can obscure some of the breast on a standard view. Tell the scheduler and the technologist that you have implants, and bring your implant card if you have one. Facilities that image women with implants use additional displacement views, often called Eklund views, to pull breast tissue forward and off the implant so more of it can be seen.

Mammography looks for cancer. It is not the test the FDA recommends for finding a silent rupture of a silicone gel implant. That question is covered under MRI and ultrasound for breast implants.

If a mammogram is abnormal, the next step is a diagnostic workup in the same practice, not a referral to a surgeon who has never seen the images. Dr. Funk and Dr. Takasumi read that path together.

This is general information about how these questions are usually approached. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not replace a visit. Screening and treatment are planned for one person at a time.