Breast Implants & T Cell Lymphoma

About Breast Implants & T Cell Lymphoma

Going into surgery most patients are aware of the potential for complications. Usually, the complications that most concern the patient relate directly to the surgery and few patients think of long-term complications. Sometimes, however, the long-term complications are what the patient should think about. The four million patients who had breast implant surgery in the United States and may now face an increased risk of anaplastic large cell lymphoms (ALCL) likely would have prefered to know of this complication prior to electing to have breast implant surgery.  

In January 2011, the FDA issued a report summarizing the connection between breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma. In its report the FDA stated, that "[a]lthough [anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL)] is extremely rare, the FDA believes that women with breast implants may have a very small but increased risk of developing this disease in the scar capsule adjacent to the implant."

Lymphoma is the most common blood cancer. While ALCL is relatively rare, it is one of the more common subtypes of T-cell lymphoma. Like other forms of cancer, its treatment requires chemotherapy and other drug treatments and can be a lengthy process. 

While the FDA has not clearly established the link between T-cell Lymphoma and a particular type of implant, they are still researching this relationship. Specifically, the FDA is working with the American Society of Plastic Surgery to create a registry of people who have had implants and develop ALCL. While the FDA doesn't currently reccommend people with implants to have them removed if they don't have symptoms, these reccomendations may change based on the outcome of the study. 

Symptoms of ALCL:

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