Breast Implant Pathology
Discuss capsule and breast implant pathology with your surgeon because generally it is the surgeon who orders pathology tests and reports. Discuss what you both feel is necessary and the costs to you. Some of the tests may be expensive and even unnecessary depending on your circumstances and what your surgeon sees during your explant. However, peace of mind may be more important to you and you may want to rule out infections and other serious diseases.
If you have textured implants and symptoms of BIA-ALCL such as persistent swelling or pain in the vicinity of the breast implant, seroma, breast mass, capsular contracture and swollen lymph nodes consider testing for BIA-ALCL using a CD-30 test. A CD-30 test will include your surgeon capturing fluid from inside your capsules, if present, and sending the fluid samples and representative pieces of your capsule to pathology to be tested for BIA-ALCL. Inquire about the cost of the CD-30 test as it can be expensive.
Regular capsule and breast implant pathology tests and reports generally include your capsules and implants being sent to a pathology lab where the state of your breast implants should be well documented (are they ruptured, leaking or bleeding silicone gel, are there any shell or patch defects) by the pathologist and your capsules examined for breast implant shell textures or shell particulate or silicone inside the capsule and if those are present documented. Then the pathologist will study the cells of your capsules noting the types of cells, cell characteristics and pathologies that can occur in capsule tissue. Pieces of your capsule may be cultured using sensitive broth cultures to see if any infections are present in your capsule which you may need treatment for. Bacterial infections are easier to culture than fungal infections which take much longer to grow out. We are documenting medical case reports and articles regarding the various infections and cancers that show up in capsule tissue on a public facebook page here: Scar Capsules Complication and Cancers
Whether you want your implants returned to you is up to you. You paid for them and legally they do belong to you. Surgeons seem to make up all sorts of excuses to avoid returning your implants to you but the real reason they may not is because the manufacturers want their implants back so they can protect themselves from liability and they encourage the surgeons to return explanted implants back to the manufacturers even rewarding them if they do so. If you are pursuing a legal case check with your attorney about how your implants should be handled in order to best serve your case.
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