9 Deaths Are Linked to Rare Cancer From Breast Implants -
By DENISE GRADYMARCH 21, 2017
A rare cancer first linked to breast implants in 2011 has now been associated with nine deaths, the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday.
D.A., Stephanie Caccomo, said Tuesday’s announcement was made because “in 2016, there were several advances in the description of the disease
and treatment recommendations, including recognition of the disease by the World Health Organization and publication of diagnosis and treatment guidelines by the Plastic Surgery Foundation and National Comprehensive Cancer Network.”
A version of this article appears in print on March 22, 2017, on Page A20 of the New York
edition with the headline: Nine Deaths Tied to Rare Cancer From Breast Implants.
In cases linked to implants, this rare form of cancer grows in the breast, usually in the capsule of scar tissue that forms around an implant.
The deaths were not caused by breast cancer, the agency said, but by a rare malignancy in the immune system, anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.
About 290,000 women in the United States had implants for breast enlargement in 2016,
and 109,000 received them for reconstruction after breast cancer, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
