Fw: Breast Implants Linked To Lung, Brain Cancers ~ Nursinghands

[Guest guest]

One more version of the study we learned about that came out in May of this

year.

From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 10:17 AM

Subject: Breast Implants Linked To Lung, Brain Cancers ~ Nursinghands

> Breast Implants Linked To Lung, Brain Cancers (7/9/2001 1:00:00 PM)

>

> http://www.nursinghands.com/news/NewsStory.html?7960

>

> Breast Implants Linked to Lung, Brain Cancers

>

> A long-term study has found that women with breast implants seem to have

> higher rates of brain and lung cancer compared to other plastic surgery

> patients. The researchers, from the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NIH,

> Bethesda, MD), stress that their findings do not show a direct

> cause-and-effect relationship but only a link whose significance is

unclear.

> The study was reported in the May issues of two medical journals, ls

of

> Epidemiology and Epidemiology.

>

> More than 13,000 women with breast implants received prior to 1989 were

> followed by the researchers for around 13 years and were compared with

4,000

> women with other types of plastic surgery and with the general population.

> The results focused on the plastic surgery group, based on questionnaires

> returned by 7,500 women and on medical records. Most of the women had

> silicone implants, which were removed from the market in 1992. Only about

> 10% of the women had saline implants.

>

> The results showed that women with implants of either type had a threefold

> risk of dying of respiratory tract diseases, primarily lung cancer,

compared

> to women in the general plastic surgery control group. They also had a

> higher rate of dying from pneumonia and emphysema and had a twofold risk

of

> dying of brain cancer. In trying to understand the high incidence of brain

> cancer, the researchers noted the many neurologic alterations noted by

women

> with implants, including memory loss and cognitive dysfunction, and

> concluded that implants might have been more directly involved than

> previously thought. According to the lead author, Dr. Louise A. Brinton,

> chief of the environmental epidemiology branch of the NCI, smoking could

not

> be ruled out as a factor. Since no plausible explanation could be found

for

> the brain cancer finding, further research is needed, say the

investigators.

>

> Several years ago, a panel of scientists assembled by the U.S. Institute

of

> Medicine reviewed the medical literature pertaining to silicone implants

and

> reached the conclusion that the implants were not associated with any

major

> disease. Recently, a study published in the May issue of Plastic and

> Reconstructive Surgery found no evidence to support a link between breast

> implants and cancer, based only on an analysis of scientific literature.

>

> By medinews.com staff writers: 09/05/2001