THE DETECTION OF BREAST IMPLANT RUPTURE USING ULTRASOUND

Because little or no information exists about the life span of silicon e implants, there is a need for a non-invasive and sensitive diagnosti c tool for assessing their integrity. It is extremely difficult to dia gnose rupture of these implants clinically. The aims of this study wer e to assess how many of our patients - in particular asymptomatic wome n - had ruptured implants and whether or not ultrasound was an effecti ve tool in excluding rupture and reassuring anxious patients. All pati ents in the south east of Scotland who had a silicone gel-filled breas t implant inserted between the years 1982-1991 were invited to take pa rt in an investigation into morbidity due to silicone implants. We scr eened 307 asymptomatic patients with 385 implants and only found one p atient with a ruptured silicone implant. One other patient had a ruptu red saline implant and one implant was found to have leaked. We found ultrasound to be a quick, reliable, cheap and safe method of screening for implant rupture which can be used to reassure an anxious patient that her implants are intact.