Lymphoma And Breast Implants

In January 2011, articles were published in major US newspapers about the association of lymphoma and breast implants. This is called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), an extremely rare type of malignancy. Approximately 1 in 500,000 women is diagnosed with ALCL (anywhere in the body) in the United States each year. Only 3 in 100 million women per year in the US are diagnosed with ALCL in the breast. Breast ALCL has been most often identified in patients undergoing implant revision operations. There are now about 60 case reports of ALCL in women with breast implants worldwide. The total number of implants worldwide is estimated to be between 5-10 million. Based on these numbers, for women with breast implants, the estimation is that one out of 125,000 would develop breast ALCL. To put things in perspective, in the same women, the rate of breast cancer is one out of seven. Read More