Today’s modern high-strength silicone gel breast implants have an excellent track record for longevity. Because a small break in the shell of an implant may go undetected by physical exam, symptoms, or even mammograms, it has been recommended that the surveillance of breast implants be done with MRI. MRI tests are quite costly in the $1500-$2500 range and can take up to an hour to do. Recently, ultrasound has been looked at as a possible alternative. I have been doing in office ultrasound of the breasts for over four years now and have found that it is very close in its positive predictive value to that of MRI. Meaning, if we find that is broken on ultrasound, it is broken in the operating room almost all the time. An ultrasound examination of the breast takes about 10 minutes. At our office, we recommend that patients have ultrasound whenever they feel like there has been a change in the shape, or feel of their breast implant. We also recommend that they have ultrasound at year six and year nine after surgery even if they are asymptomatic. I have used ultrasound in many ways in cosmetic breast surgery. Most commonly, we use ultrasound and examination of breast implants for rupture. Small blood or fluid collections can easily and safely be removed with small tubes under ultrasound guidance to not damage the underlying implant. We have also used ultrasound in the diagnosis of rotation of shaped silicone gel implants. At no cost to our patients, who have had implants placed by us, ultrasound represents an easy, quick, and cost-effective way for surveillance of cosmetic breast surgery implants. Contact our office today to learn more about a breast ultrasound.
