Breast Implants Hike Risk of Rare Blood Cancer

Health experts in United States have warned that opting for breast implants could increase the risk of suffering from a very rare form of cancer though they are yet to identify why exactly the disease occurs.

The Food and Drug Administration in the US has also asked doctors across the country to report any such cases so that researchers could get more information about the disease. Less than 60 such cases have been reported across the world with the majority of the cases coming to light only after the patients contacted doctors regarding pain or lumps around the surgical site.

Known as anaplastic large cell lymphoma, the cancer affects the lymph nodes and the skin and is reported to form in the scar tissue around the implants. The FDA went on to add that the researchers may not be able to identify the exact cause of the disease any time soon since it is very rare.

"A definitive study would need to collect data on hundreds of thousands of women for more than 10 years. Even then, causality may not be conclusively established", the agency added.


Source: Medindia