Breast Implants

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Breast Implant and ALCL Statistics

Women who have breast augmentation (not reconstruction following a mastectomy) number in the hundreds of thousands in the United States.

Breast implant statistics gathered by the American Society of Plastic Surgery for 2009 include:
Breast augmentation procedures done in 2009 — 289,328
Breast augmentation done in 2000 — 212,500
Percent difference between 2000 and 2009 — 36 percent
2009 amount of money spent on breast augmentation surgery — $963,839,020

Breast augmentation by age:

13-19 years old — 8,199
20-29 years old — 86,525
30-39 years old — 103,738
40 years and older — 80,668

Breast Augmentation by U.S. Location in 2009

The number of breast implants done in 2009 in various locations around the country were:

Region 1 — New England and Middle Atlantic: 41,420 (14 percent of U.S.)
Region 2 — East North Central and West North Central: 47,476 (16 percent of U.S.)
Region 3 — South Atlantic: 45,166 (16 percent of U.S.)
Region 4 — East South Central and West South Central: 47,614 (16 percent of U.S.)
Region 5 — Mountain and Pacific107, 652 (37 percent of U.S.)

Women With Breast Implants Who Experience ALCL Symptoms

ALCL (anaplastic large cell lymphoma) is a rare type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. The number of women who get ALCL is about one in 500,000 each year in the United States. The number of women who have breast implants and get ALCL each year in the U.S. is about three in 100 million.

Signs and Symptoms of ALCL

The main symptoms of ALCL in women who have breast implants are persistent swelling and pain in the area near the implant. These symptoms often do not appear until long after the surgery to have the implant, often years later.

The way to diagnose ALCL in women who have symptoms is to do a biopsy of the fluid or scar tissue surrounding the implant. Both form during the healing process.

Because ALCL is very rare, it usually is found unexpectedly in women who have revision surgery for their implants. It is not known as yet which type of implants, saline-filled versus silicone gel-filled, are more likely to be associated with ALCL.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending that women with breast implants but no symptoms should in general keep their implants, because the number of cases of ALCL is so small. The agency recommends that healthcare professionals should:

Report any cases of ALCL to Medwatch, the FDA safety information and adverse event reporting program. Reports can be made online or by telephone at 1-800-332-1088
Consider a patient might have ALCL when she has late onset, persistent fluid around the implant, then have the fluid and scar tissue biopsied for disease

Women with implants should:

Continue their regular medical care
Monitor their breast implants and see their doctor if they have pain, swelling, or any changes around the implants
Understand that ALCL is very rare and is not breast cancer, but a cancer that grows between the implant and the breast tissue

If you or someone you love is diagnosed with ALCL, contact our breast implant attorneys for qualified legal help.

Product Liability Breaking News

"FDA Discusses Breast Implant Safety"

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted the ban on silicone breast implants in 2006, it required the manufacturers to conduct safety studies to eva...

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