Fw: Breast Implants Linked to Fibromyalgia ~ WashPost

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Can't remember if posted or not, so here it is anyway:

From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 12:16 AM

Subject: Breast Implants Linked to Fibromyalgia ~ WashPost

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25418-2001Apr30.html

Breast Implants Linked to Fibromyalgia

By Marc Kaufman

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 1, 2001; Page A12

Women with ruptured silicone gel breast implants may be at increased risk

of the painful condition fibromyalgia, according to the first study of

women whose implants were known to have burst.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Food and Drug Administration

and the National Institutes of Health, found that when silicone gel

spreads outside the border of scar tissue around the breast area, reports

of fibromyalgia increased significantly.

" We found an association between fibromyalgia reports and women who had

silicone gel found outside the breast capsule, " said Lori Brown, a senior

researcher with the FDA's Center for Medical Devices and Radiological

Health. " This doesn't mean there is a cause and effect relationship

between the two, but that there might be. "

Her paper, published in the Journal of Rheumatology, concludes by saying

that if the findings are confirmed in later studies, a screening of all

women with silicone implants should be considered to determine if their

devices had ruptured.

The finding is the latest in a long scientific debate over the safety of

silicone gel and saline breast implants. The FDA took silicone gel

implants off the market in the early 1990s because of concerns they might

cause health problems. But they were returned to the market for medical

uses , mostly for reconstruction after breast cancer surgery , after

researchers concluded they were safe.

Two implant companies have announced they hope to resume use of silicone

gel implants for cosmetic surgery, and are working with the FDA to

demonstrate their safety. An official of McGhan Medical of Santa Barbara

said his company already has one large study underway and is now working

with the FDA to design a second for an improved silicone gel now widely

used in Europe.

The new study included 344 women from Birmingham who had undergone

cosmetic breast augmentation before 1988. The women had their breasts

examined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine whether the

implants had ruptured and whether the gel had spread beyond the breast

area. The study found that about two-thirds of the implants had some

rupture and that gel had spread in about one-quarter of the women. (Some

companies, such as McGhan, had much better records on ruptures.)

While the study found a significant association between that spread and

reports of fibromyalgia, it showed no increase in risk for other major

connective tissue diseases. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome with no clear

biological cause that results in generalized pain and tenderness, sleep

disturbance and complaints of mental loss.

Zuckerman, director of the National Center for Policy Research for

Women and Families, a Washington-based nonprofit group, said the new study

was important because it was the first to focus on women with ruptured

implants.

" There is every reason logically to think these women might have different

experiences, but there has been an obvious lack of research, " she said.

" People concerned about breast implants have long said the women with

ruptured implants are the ones showing up very sick. "

Another recent study of breast implants conducted by the National Cancer

Institute found that although women were not at increased risk for most

cancers, they appear to suffer from brain and lung cancer at a higher rate

than other women who undergo plastic surgery.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

NOTE FROM DR. ZUCKERMAN:

From: CPR4WandF@...

Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 00:47:44 EDT

Subject: New implant study -- in the Washington Post

CPR4WandF@...

MIME-Version: 1.0

Dear Friends, I did not mean to imply that women with ruptured implants

are the only ones that are very sick. Zuckerman