Women who get breast implants may be more likely to develop anaplastic
large-cell lymphoma, a small Dutch study suggests.
Anaplastic large-cell lymphoma is an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin
lymphoma, which typically affects older adults and is more common in men than
in women. In recent years, the number of women diagnosed with anaplastic
large-cell lymphoma in the breast has increased, raising concerns that implants
might cause malignancies, researchers note in JAMA Oncology.
For the current study, researchers examined data on patients with
non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the breast who were added to a Dutch cancer registry
between 1990 and 2016. Among 43 patients with breast anaplastic large-cell
lymphoma, 32 had breast implants, compared with just one woman among the 146
patients in the study who had other types of breast lymphomas.
This suggests that women with breast implants are 421 times more likely to
develop breast anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. But the absolute risk is low: by
age 75, only one in every 6,920 women with implants will develop this type of
cancer.
Therefore, “Women who have implants should be aware of the signs and symptoms
so that they can consult their doctors in time when they notice enlargement of
the breast or a lump” In particular, so-called macrotextured implants may pose
a bigger risk.
