Breast augmentation (placement of breast implants) may interfere with interpretation of screening mammograms, but there is no evidence women with implants are diagnosed with more advanced cancers than women without them, according to an article in the January 28th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Background information in the article noted that breast augmentation with placement of implants is the third most common type of plastic surgery performed for cosmetic reasons in the United States, with 268,888 procedures performed in 2002.

Diana L. Miglioretti, PhD, and colleagues evaluated data from 7 U.S. mammography registries that participate in the Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium. In their comparison of data for women with and women without implants, they defined the sensitivity of mammography as the proportion of positive mammograms among women diagnosed with breast cancer within 1 year of their examination. Specificity was defined as the proportion of negative mammograms among women without cancer.

"Among asymptomatic women, the sensitivity of screening mammography based on the final assessment was lower in women with breast augmentation versus women without (45 percent versus 66.8 percent)," the authors wrote. "And specificity was slightly higher in women with augmentation (97.7 percent vs. 96.7 percent)."

Prognostic characteristics of tumors (stage, size, estrogen-receptor status, and nodal status) were not significantly different in women with breast augmentation compared with those without augmentation.

"Although the sensitivity of screening mammography is lower in asymptomatic women with breast augmentation, there is no evidence that this results in more advanced disease at diagnosis compared with women without augmentation. Women with breast augmentation should be encouraged to have routine screening mammography at recommended intervals," the authors concluded.