Breast Implants Make It Harder to Detect Major Health Issue for Women
Before you decide to undergo that breast augmentation surgery you’ve been dying to get, you might want to consider this new research.
Electrocardiograms (ECGs) are tests that are used to assess whether a patient has a normal heart rhythm.
But apparently, there are studies that suggest breast implants make it harder to detect whether a patient has a major health issue or not.
Abnormal Readings
The study was conducted with 48 women. 28 women of these women had breast implants. When these women were examined, a startlingly high rate of them were interpreted with abnormal readings: 38 percent from one doctor, and 57 percent from another.
Why is it that breast implants are messing up the readings on these tests?
Breast implants have, historically, blocked certain tests like ultrasounds. In the same way, ECGs seem to be disrupted.
Doctors suspect that the implant messes with the electrical conductor of the electrodes over the heart. Therefore, it can be easy to get diagnosed with a false positive, making it harder to tell if the patient has an abnormality or not.
What Should I Do?
The main step that you can take is to make sure you get your ECG done if you’re considering breast implants. If you do this, doctors can get a more accurate reading on whether you have a true abnormality or not.
Supposing that you’ve already gone through with breast augmentation, your main recourse is to talk to your general physician and proactively seek further testing.
Assuming you get an abnormality reading, in spite of the high rates of incidence within breast implant patients, it’s better to be safe than sorry and to see what can be done to get further information.
Considering getting a breast implant? Had an abnormal reading from an ECG after having proceeded with breast augmentation surgery? Find out more information from the FDA and how often they recommend having screenings after breast augmentation surgery.