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Breast implants and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma: a danish population-based cohort study
Maja Ølholm Vase1, Søren Friis, Andrea Bautz
1Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Hematology, Pathology, and Clinical Epidemiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus; and Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Background:
A potential link between breast implants and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) has been suggested.
Methods:
We examined lymphoma occurrence in a nationwide cohort of 19,885 Danish women who underwent breast implant surgery during 1973-2010. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR), with 95% confidence intervals (CI), for ALCL and lymphoma overall associated with breast implantation were calculated.
Results:
During 179,246 person-years of follow-up, we observed 31 cases of lymphoma among cohort members. No cases of ALCL were identified. SIRs for ALCL and lymphoma overall were zero (95% CI, 0-10.3) and 1.20 (95% CI, 0.82-1.70), respectively.
Conclusions:
In our nationwide cohort study, we did not find an increased risk of lymphoma in general, or ALCL in particular, among Danish women who underwent breast implantation. However, our evaluation of ALCL risk was limited by the rarity of the disease.
Impact:
Our results do not support an association between breast implants and ALCL and are consistent with other studies on cancer risk and breast implants.