The FDA issued a statement recently in an attempt to educate patients that textured breast implants have been linked to a rare form of cancer known as Breast Implant Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL).
Although currently there is not enough scientific data to limit the use of the textured breast implants there is enough to warrant informing patients.
Common symptoms of this disease include breast enlargement, lump in the breast or armpit, or fluid collection that develops more than a year after surgery.
NorthBay Health Surgical Oncologist and Plastic Surgeon Jason Marengo, M.D., said it’s important for anyone with those symptoms to see a physician for an examination.
“BIA-ALCL is a rare and highly treatable type of lymphoma that can develop around breast implants. It has occurred most frequently in patients who have breast implants with textured surfaces,” he noted. “When caught early, this type of cancer is usually curable.”
The current lifetime risk of BIA-ALCL is estimated to be 1 in 3817 to 1 in 30,0000 women with textured implants based on current confirmed cases and textured implant sales data gathered during the past two decades.