Recommendations on screening mammography in patients with ventriculoperitoneal shunts and deep brain stimulation.

Insertion of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt and deep brain stimulation (DBS) are common neurosurgical procedures. Concerns have been raised regarding the safety of mammography in this patient cohort due to the risk of damaging the VP shunt tubing or DBS implantable pulse generator, and the degradation in mammography image quality secondary to the implanted devices. Based on a review of the current literature, the authors propose that mammography is safe in patients with VP shunts and DBS, and should be performed routinely as a part of population screening.