Are mammograms or MRIs needed prior to surgery?
I prefer to obtain a recent breast ultrasound to look at breast tissue and possible extracapsular silicone including the possibility of silicone in axillary lymph nodes. Neither mammogram nor ultrasound exams usually detect intra-capsular rupture, which is the most frequent type of rupture. Leakage is not detected by any method and is best diagnosed clinically. Sometimes an MRI is useful as it is more likely to show rupture, but it is expensive, and I feel it usually is not necessary if features of implant failure are present unless silicone has migrated away from the implant. I would caution against a mammogram preoperatively as many implants have shell integrity problems and the pressure from a mammogram may rupture the Silastic shell. Also, a 2007 article published in the American Journal of Roentgenology warns against using the standard radiation done in women with breast implants as this may lead over time to an increased risk of radiation-induced breast cancer. A mammogram or bre
