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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.
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