Breast implants: Do they interfere with mammograms?

Can breast implants make it harder to find breast cancer during mammography?

- Leslie / Louisiana

Mayo Clinic breast-health specialist Sandhya Pruthi, M.D., and colleagues answer select questions from readers.

Answer

Breast implants may decrease the ability of mammograms to reveal breast cancer, because implants can obscure the image of a tumor. Still, studies show that mammograms are an effective way to screen for breast cancer in women with breast implants.

If you have breast implants, you may want to consider getting your mammograms at a facility that does a large number of these examinations annually. For women with breast implants, the mammogram procedure may be slightly different and the images more difficult to interpret. For these reasons, you may benefit from a radiologist experienced in such examinations. If you have silicone implants, it may also be recommended that you have an additional imaging exam (MRI) three years after you receive your implants and every two years thereafter to check for implant rupture.

There's a slight risk that your breast implants may rupture during a mammogram. But the benefits of mammography in the early detection of breast cancer outweigh this risk.

Breast cancer screening guidelines are the same for all women, whether they have breast implants or not. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends a screening mammogram every one to two years after age 40, depending on your risk.