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Women With Breast Implants At Higher Risk Of Serious Conditions: Presented at NCI

WASHINGTON, DC -- April 25, 2001 -- New findings from the largest independent study of women with breast implants, led by National Cancer Institute (NCI) researcher Dr. Louise Brinton, reveal the women suffer significantly higher rates of brain cancer and respiratory-tract cancer when compared to other female plastic surgery patients. The rates also are higher when compared to the general population.

In an article in the May 2001 issue of Epidemiology, Dr. Brinton's team reported that women with implants had a threefold higher relative risk of dying from diseases of the respiratory-tract including lung cancer, emphysema, and pneumonia and twofold higher risk of dying from brain cancer in comparison to the control group of other plastic-surgery patients. The two groups were
compared because they tend to come from the same economic and social backgrounds, thus neutralizing so-called "lifestyle" factors that have raised questions in other studies.

According to a companion article published in the May issue of Annals of Epidemiology, which reported on the number of malignancies rather than mortalities, cancers of the brain and respiratory tract also were found at higher rates in women with implants. Other cancers such as cervical, vulvar and multiple myeloma likewise occurred more frequently in women with implants than in the comparison groups, but the researchers described the results for brain and respiratory-tract cancer as more unexpected and puzzling.

In trying to understand the high incidence of brain cancer, the researchers pointed out the many "neurologic alterations" that women with implants have reported -- memory loss, cognitive dysfunction, and others -- and concluded that implants "may have been more directly involved" in those complications than has previously been suggested. They also noted that these cancers originated in the brain as opposed to the more usual occurrence of spreading to the brain from another part of the body.

In addition to respiratory-tract cancer, women with implants died at a higher rate from pneumonia and emphysema. It is possible, the researchers suggested, that these deaths may therefore fit into a general pattern of pulmonary complications from exposure to silicone as reported in a number of other published cases in medical journals.

On average the women were in their mid-thirties when they received implants, and all the women had their implants for at least eight years. The risk of mortality was increased among women who had their implants 15 years or longer. Nearly all previous studies of women with implants looked at the effects of devices over a shorter time period.

The Brinton study was begun more than five years ago and is one of only a few studies to be carried out by an independent body like the National Cancer Institute. Most previous investigations have been funded by breast implant manufacturers or others with a financial interest in the outcome. This is also the first study ever to analyze the mortality rates of women with breast implants.

Deaths from suicide also were found to be four times higher among women with implants. The NCI researchers noted that low self-esteem, often a factor in suicide attempts, "may have also contributed to the excess suicides especially if the implants did not achieve the desired effect or if problems with the implants were encountered."

This study is part of a larger body of research being conducted at the National Cancer Institute. The NCI is conducting the research to determine the long-term health effects associated with silicone breast implants. Although implants have been linked to serious short-term complications, very little is known about their long-term effects.

SOURCE: Command Trust Foundation

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