Breast Implants and mammograms

I had a mammogram last week that resulted in a callback for a diagnostic mammogram.  I do not have breast implants but finally am at goal weight and starting to research plastic surgery. 

The tech told me that 80 percent of people with breast implants go undiagnosed until they are in Stage 3 of most types of breast cancer because the mammograms are so much harder to read.

I haven't looked for any evidence to support this, but do any of you have any information on this?  I have a family history of breast cancer plus fibrocystic breast disease, so if it were true, it would pretty much count me out for any type of implant, which is quite depressing, considering how the boobs look now.

 One surgeon I asked said it makes no difference.  My surgeon said that the techs have to work harder to see with a mammogram with implants, and that usually they SHOULD schedule an MRI instead.  But that they often don't.

The mamogram tech I had told me she hates when woman have implants, as it is so hard to get a good picture and takes a really long time and a lot of effort.  Made me wonder how many tech's wouldn't put that much work into it?

Either way - I'm like you - I have a strong history.  I decided to go for just a lift and see what they looked like.  I'm pretty happy.  I don't have big, full, round boobs...but mine look just as good as my small chested 20-something friend who's skinny, and never had kids.  So that's pretty good to me!

I have pics on my profile if you want to see.  

At 51, and having had implants for 18 years, I can say that I've never heard those statistics or had anyone mention anything like that during mammograms. However, over the last year, I have been having swelling episodes of one breast or the other (not both at once), and I was sent to M.D. Anderson's Inflammatory Breast Cancer Center because several doctors thought that it looked like I might have IBC.

The head of the center examined me himself, and felt that my swelling was probably "implant related", but ordered two days worth of testing anyway. In all the years that I've had implants, I've never once had anyone suggest an MRI. I wondered why they did not do one with all the swelling I've been having, and with a diagnosis of "skin thickening" when comparing one mammogram to my annual mammogram that was taken just one month prior.

I did have ultrasounds done. Even with all the testing, they could not tell the exact position of the implant and ALL THREE mammogram radiologists (not techs, but radiologists *****ad the tests after they were done) told me that they "think the implant may have shifted within my breast, thus causing swelling". I saw all of the screens while they were doing the tests, and I just could not see why they thought that the implant had moved into the area that was swollen since I could see the implant seemed to be in a normal place.

Anyway, my main point is that it apparently IS hard to diagnose implant problems since all I got after seeing at least 12 doctors in a weeks time was a guess as to what might be wrong. It must also be next to impossible to get an MRI of the breast to diagnosis implant problems since they did not offer me one with all the problems I've been having.

Also, I'm pretty darned positive that if you are somehow able to secure an MRI of a breast implant, your insurance WILL NOT pay for it since it is to diagnosis implant problems, but I might be wrong about that. I'd love to hear other's experiences with MRI's of breast implants and if insurance paid for the MRI.

It's a lot to think about. One thing is for sure, and that is that implants can become very expensive down the road. 

... By the way, it should be noted that even WITHOUT implants, mammograms don't always pick up tumors and other problems. I've had two lumps that I found myself, and they could not find them on mammogram. One was before I had implants, and the tumor they removed was a benign, solid mass "about the size of an olive". It did not show up on mammogram, even though we could feel it and were looking for it during the mammogram. Same thing with the second one. (Edit...I was a B cup before implants, a C after implants.)

Also, my mother-in-law had a mammogram because a doctor found a lump in her breast. They of course mammogrammed both breasts, but only found one lump. When her surgeon was removing the lump, he noticed that her nipple on the opposite breast was turned in, and he found an even larger tumor on that side that had not shown up on mammogram. That tumor had already affected the skin, so she was at a stage 4. She lived two years. (Edit...She did not have implants, and she was about a B cup.) 

Moral of the story, I suppose, is that you should always make sure to do your own exams and realize that with or without implants, mammograms sometimes (maybe often) miss large tumors.

I also had a lump in my left breast that I could feel and they could not find.  Two mammograms AND ultrasound, and also nothing could be aspirated from it.  They chalked it up to fibrocystic breast disease.

That was seven years ago, and you can still see nothing there, but I can feel a little lump/bump.  I just feel it for changes now.

Were you at MD Anderson in Houston?  Do you feel comfortable with their diagnosis? 

Well, I had a long reply typed to this and somehow lost it when my mouse went over one of those ads at the side of the page. Lost all of it. Let me just say that YES, I was MORE than satisfied. M.D. Anderson is the most amazing medical place I've EVER been to. Anyone that has a suspected cancer should RUN as fast as you can to M.D. Anderson. DO NOT wait two weeks to see a local doctor or try to navigate medical system, waiting for one specialist or another. 

When you go to M.D. Anderson, you will be given a schedule of all of your tests, and after every test, you will see a real doctor, who will tell you what was or was not found. You will leave M.D. Anderson knowing how to tackle your illness, or as in my case, knowing that you are not going to die from an illness like Inflammatory Breast Cancer, which is pretty much a death sentence unless it is caught in the first couple of weeks after the initial symptoms.

Having the head of the IBC clinic, Dr. Ricard Hugo Alvarez, examine me and tell me "You do not have Inflammatory Breast Cancer" was SO worth the eight hour drive! He looked me in the eyes and told me that, and I believed him. He is an expert in a this rare form of cancer, and he sees it every day. Still, he decided to do two full days of testing, and I left with the diagnose that the swelling is "implant related". All of the testing had a total cost of 900.00. Amazing!! My insurance covered all of it except my 30.00 copay, but I would GLADLY have paid the entire 900.00 for the peace of mind that I had once Dr. Alveraz told me that it was not IBC. It honestly was like dying and coming back to life (historically about a 5% survival rate, but getting better because of clinics like this one). I learned that day that I am not afraid to die. However, it was a life changing experience.

M.D. Anderson is an amazing place, and anyone with a cancer diagnosis should RUN to Houston. If you live close enough to visit their breast diagnosis clinic for annual mammograms, you should consider doing them at M.D. Anderson. It's a wonderful place where miracles really do happen every single day.

I've had implants since 2004 and have breast issues.  I usually have to have a biopsy  every other year.  My diagnostic mammograms are always followed up with ultrasound, and my biopsies have never punctured my implants.  I asked that question before they were implanted due to my biopsies and breast issues.  If the mammograms are done correctly, there is not an issue.

Are your biopsies for calcification type spots, or the needle aspiration type for suspicious areas or masses?  Just curious.  I am learning quite a bit about this over the last few days unfortunately.

I am on the cusp of deciding if implants are right for me or not. Do you think having the implants under the muscle instead of over the muscle gives a better mamogram reading???