New High Resolution Ultrasound Provides Information Women Want About Their Silicone Gel Implants

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Dec. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Dr. Marc Salzman, along with a cohort of plastic surgeons around the nation, is offering new, high resolution ultrasound (HRUS) technology to help his patients more easily detect ruptured silicone gel implants, and reporting on his experience. While the FDA currently recommends regular MRI scans for women with silicone gel implants, compliance rates are low. Now that several studies have documented the excellent accuracy of in-office high-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) scans for detecting silent rupture of silicone gel implants, surgeons are looking to this new technology to quickly inform patients of the status of their implants.

"In my experience with ultrasound, the positive predictive value is as close to 100% as you can get," reports Dr. Marc Salzman, a board certified plastic surgeon practicing in Louisville, Kentucky for 27 years. "Ultrasound has been really, really helpful for our practice. In fifteen minutes you can say, 'Mrs. Smith, your implant is not broken.' It's a relief. No one's going to go spend $2,500 to find that out and have an MRI. But now you can find out in 15 minutes, it's worthwhile. I don't know how in today's world you can practice state of the art, cosmetic breast surgery and not do ultrasound. It's impossible."

The national study is being conducted in nine facilities around the country in order to evaluate how women feel about having the new HRUS scans of their silicone gel breast implants. HRUS is being offered at no cost to the first 150 women in each facility who have silicone gel implants that were placed between 2000 and 2015. Women not eligible for the study, wishing to check for implant rupture, are offered the ultrasound option at a low cost.

"The whole thing, even with talking and presenting it to one of my fellows, takes 15 minutes" explains Dr. Salzman. "You can go back and review later. If you want to annotate the images, we can add it to the patient's chart just with a click. It's really been revolutionary."

Most women with silicone gel breast implants are aware that their implants may rupture without any symptoms, called a "silent rupture." The FDA recommends that women with silicone gel breast implants receive MRI scans every two years for the life of the implants in order to detect silent ruptures. However, MRIs are expensive, and are usually not covered by health insurance plans. The latest HRUS technology allows women to have increased peace of mind, simply by visiting their surgeon's office.

In addition to providing women with increased peace of mind, Dr. Salzman explains why he thinks all plastic surgeons should offer HRUS, "It's advantageous, I think, to go to a practice that says 'we're not going to send you for MRIs at years three, five and seven', which is what the FDA had recommended. In five minutes I can tell you if your implant is broken with an ultrasound and so far we haven't charged anybody for that, it's included in your post-op. I think that our patients are pretty impressed that everything that I'm saying is different than what they've heard in the two or three other consultations."

Women in the Louisville area with silicone gel breast implants placed between 2000 and 2015 who are interested in ultrasound to verify whether or not their implants have silently ruptured may contact Dr. Salzman's office at (502) 425-5200 to schedule an in-office High Resolution Ultrasound scan.

SOURCE Dr. Marc Salzman