Transgender

Forum













%expand(%include(D:\http/ads/ads0.html))


Swedish Study Finds Implants Safe

By Reuters
Contributed by Rachelle

London
February 6, 1998


Breast implants do not increase a woman's risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis or other related diseases, Swedish doctors said Friday.

A study of 7,000 Swedish women with breast implants, published in The British Medical Journal, found no evidence that the implants caused systemic connective tissue diseases or immunological disorders.

``There is little likelihood of an association between breast implants and connective tissue disease,'' Dr Olof Nyren of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said.

The associate professor of medical epidemiology and his colleagues surveyed women with implants over a period of eight years and compared them to 3,000 women who had undergone breast reduction surgery.

``The consistent absence of excess risk compared with two different comparison populations reinforces the credibility of the findings. Thus, our data add to an emerging consensus that there is no important association between breast implants and connective tissues disease,'' he added.

Cyprus Cooper, a professor of rheumatology at the University of Southampton in southern England, said Nyren's research was further proof that there was no link.

``It is difficult to see how epidemiological studies will shed more light on this vexed issue,'' he said in an accompanying commentary in the BMJ.

Dr David Sharpe, the president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, welcomed the results of the study, saying common sense would suggest the results are correct.

``Silicone is an inert substance that does not cause disease. Each year a diabetic will inject far more silicone into his or her body than leaks from a breast implant, with absolutely no ill effects,'' he said in a statement.

Nyren said the women in his study had silicone or saline implants or a combination of both, but all the implants were encased in silicone shells. He is planning further studies based on the type and size of the implant.

Millions of women around the world have had implants for medical and aesthetic reasons since the late 1960s. Fears that the silicone gel could cause medical problems surfaced years later after women blamed leakages for complaints ranging from stiff joints to arthritis and lupus, a group of skin disorders.

Research has shown that the implants weaken with age and rupture more frequently than the manufacturers and medical experts had expected, and that the gel had spread to the lymph nodes, chest, ribs, hands and liver.

The United States and other countries limited or banned the use of silicone implants in the early 1990s.

Several makers of the products, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Dow Corning Corp., have offered settlements to women over allegedly defective implants. Other cases are still pending.

In Britain, 21-month-old Daniella Bowler was granted legal aid to sue an unnamed American company claiming silicone leaking from her mother's breast implant had damaged her health.



Back to
TGF's
Home Page