Breast Implants Do Not Increase Mortality

A study investigating the effects of breast reconstruction with implants after a mastectomy revealed not only that implants do not increase mortality but, on the contrary, they appear to decrease mortality substantially.

The study involved more than 4,000 women under 65 years of age, all diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. All had been treated with mastectomy and followed over a period of about 12 years after their diagnosis. Analysis revealed that out of the 21% of women who had an implant following mastectomy, there was a 12.4% mortality rate due to breast cancer, compared to a rate of 19.7% in women without an implant. Those women who had the implant were more likely to be younger and of white ethnicity than women with no implant. After adjusting for clinical and socio-demographic factors, the authors concluded that breast cancer mortality in patients with breast implants was about half that of patients without implants.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Northern California Cancer Center (Fremont, CA, USA). The results were reported in Breast Cancer Research, published online by BioMed Central.

"Certainly, further research is needed to explain this survival differential in women with breast implants and those without, by examining potentially explanatory factors such as socioeconomic status, comorbidity, smoking, or other lifestyle factors,” the authors wrote.





Related Links:
Northern Cal. Cancer Ctr.
BioMed Central