Breast Implants Tied to Significantly Higher Risk for Rare Type of Breast Lymphoma

By Kelly Young

Edited by André Sofair, MD, MPH, and William E. Chavey, MD, MS

Women with breast implants face a much higher risk for anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) in the breast than women without implants, according to a case-control study in JAMA Oncology. Commentators note, however, that the absolute risk "remains extremely low."

Using Dutch registries, researchers identified 43 women with breast-ALCL between 1990 and 2016; of these, 32 had an ipsilateral silicone breast implant (most often macrotextured), with roughly 13 years between implantation and diagnosis. Meanwhile, of nearly 150 controls with other types of breast lymphoma, one had an implant in the lymphoma-affected breast.

At age 50, the cumulative risk for breast-ALCL in women with implants was estimated at 29 cases per million. By age 70, the risk increased to 82 per million. Nearly 7000 women would need to get implants to cause one case of breast-ALCL before age 75.

The authors say their results are "highly suggestive of a direct or indirect causal role of the breast implant in breast implant-associated ALCL."