Anything removed from the body during a procedure or operation is always (according to the health care protocol in the United States) placed in a container which has the appropriate solution for preservation of the specimen. It's critically important that the correct preservation liquid be used. (An incorrect preservation fluid can cause destruction of the specimen.) Everything is then sent to the Pathology Department of the Hospital. If your explant is done at an ambulatory clinic, they probably don't have their own path department. In which case the specimens will be sent to an off-site pathology center or pathology department of a local hospital, depending on the who the clinic has contracted with. The path lab (whether it's at a hospital or an ambulatory clinic) should be notified ahead of time that included with their routine pathology/histology investigation, they should be notified of the extreme importance of looking for any evidence of BIA-ALCL cancer. Many path labs could scoff at the idea altogether because 1) they don't know that breast implants cause this rare type of cancer, & 2) they don't know have a clue that this type of cancer could ever show up in breast tissue, so they might "blow off" the possibility for this type of cancer & therefore skip the investigation of all the specimens for this type of cancer. I don't know if a different chemical stain or reagent is required to see these rare cancer cells under a microscope, so it could be something that the path lab needs to order ahead of time (especially if you live in a 3rd world country like I do). If your explant is done in a major urban area known for its medical centers, like Houston, then you probably don't need to worry. But if it's done at a hospital or clinic in a smaller setting, I would recommend that you make all the necessary questions ahead of time to ensure that the biopsy is accurately done & that you're not just blown off as being neurotic. It's utterly amazing the number of cosmetic surgeons, general surgeons, & pathologists who have never even heard of BIA-ALCL. I can't stress this enough. Because once the biopsy report is issued, the specimens have been dumped into their bio-hazard garbage & so there's no going back to have another look. I live in Mexico so I had my explant done by a plastic surgeon in Mexico City, the only place in Mexico that has any semblance of adequate healthcare. MX City is very far away so I'm unable to see the doctors there for routine healthcare visits. (My implant surgery was done in the US.) None of the doctors at the premier hospital in MX City had heard anything about BIA-ALCL, in 2018 when my explant was done. They emphatically insisted that implants had never been proven to cause cancer. I carried with me print-outs from highly respected medical journals & offered the print-outs to them. The cosmetic surgeon who took out my implants was fully informed, by me & the journal articles, that he needed to remove the entire intact capsule that had built up around the implants over the years the body's attempt to seal off this foreign object. I asked my surgeon to take photographs of each explant also. I asked him to tell the path lab to examine for BIA-ALCL, but I have no clue if they actually did. The biopsy (Bx) reported the findings of macrophages, lymphocytes, microscopic bits of silicone (which doesn't mean the implants had necessarily leaked because the outside of the implants are made of silicone & silicone particles can slough off.) I wish I had my hands on the report because so much else was found. The Bx report is in a closet somewhere & it's hard for me to hunt things down because I'm confined to a wheelchair forever. My Bx reported "no evidence of any neoplasm." It was not specific enough for me. In my opinion it should have said that no evidence of BIA-ALCL was present in any of the specimens. The fact that BIA-ALCL wasn't specifically mentioned in the Bx report arouses my suspicion that there was no attempt to look for it. The patient must always be their own best & most loud-mouthed advocate. This was done in 2018 & so I think I need to take things in my own hands now & ask my general surgeon to Bx each breast. I'm pretty sure that BIA-ALCL is more widely known now and I'm pretty sure you will be able to find good articles online about BIA-ALCL, photos of the removed encapsulated implants, and information about exactly what is required for a complete explant procedure. Good luck!❤️ If you have any questions, just ask, & those of us who've had the procedure done will be happy to do the best we can to help.