Re: Fw: CANADA: 40% of women with breast implants want them out: survey

[Guest guest]

I just spoke to the author of the Canadian study. Of course it is misquoted in the media (40% already had their implants removed, and usually replaced -- its not that they wanted them replaced), but the study does show that the implant women were four times as likely to be hospitalized compared to other women. I am downloading the 71 page study and will do a press release asap, and an oped. The author is an epidemiologist.

I read the new article in J of Rheumatology, and unfortunately they sent a questionnaire to women in an implant support group. It is therefore not surprising that so many are sick. It's a useful article in describing the fatigue symptoms but not in making any claims about how common these are. We can say they are common among implant women who are sick, but can't say what proportion are sick.

Zuckerman, Ph.D.PresidentNational Center for Policy Research for Women & Families1901 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 901Washington, DC 20006202 223-4000www.center4policy.org

Rupture of Silicone Gel Breast Implants and Symptoms of Pain and Fatigue

RUUD C.W. VERMEULEN and HANS R. SCHOLTE

ABSTRACT. Objective. To compare symptoms of women with silicone gel breast implants and women with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and to study the effect of rupture of the silicone implant.

Methods. Five hundred readers of the Dutch silicone breast implant support group magazine were asked to respond if they had been informed by the surgeon about the silicone implant status at per-ation, and to answer questions about symptoms of CFS. Their complaints were compared with those of 100 female patients with CFS and 40 female controls.

Results. The questionnaires were returned by 319 women. Of these, 227 had symptoms of debili-tating chronic fatigue. The patterns of symptoms differed from those in patients with CFS. An analysis of the relation between integrity of the implants and the symptoms could be carried out in 176 women, and 74% of these latter women reported ruptured implants. Significantly more women with ruptured implants than those with intact implants had debilitating chronic fatigue (75% vs 51%), postexertional malaise > 24 h (77% vs 51%), impaired short term memory (58% vs 38%), and multi-joint pain (77% vs 60%).

Conclusion. Women with silicone breast implants often report severe pain and chronic fatigue. upture of the implant is associated with an increase in symptoms of pain and chronic fatigue.

(J Rheumatol 2003;30:2263–7)

Key Indexing Terms:

BREAST IMPLANTS SILICONE RUPTURE

PAIN FATIGUE IMPAIRED COGNITION

Personal, non-commercial use only. The Journal of Rheumatology Copyright © 2003. All rights reserved.*~Patty~* <fdp@...> wrote:

----- Original Message ----- From: ilena rose

ilena@...

Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 5:00 AM

Subject: CANADA: 40% of women with breast implants want them out: survey

http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=F600470F-DB28-4CAE-B193-EE4A2D88014840% of women with breast implants want them out: survey Sharon Kirkey CanWest News Service Wednesday, October 29, 2003 Forty per cent of women who responded to a Canadian survey of breastimplant patients, asked to have their implants removed because ofcomplications -- a figure that surprised even the researchers.Women who had breast implants were also more likely to visit doctorsand specialists and were four times more likely to be hospitalizedthan women without the devices, the study found.It is estimated that up to 200,000 women in Canada have breastimplants. About 80% are performed for cosmetic augmentation, theremainder for reconstruction following breast-cancer

surgery."This [cosmetic breast surgery] is a privately funded intervention --women pay for it ini tially -- but when there are complications, it'sthe public system that bears the brunt of the financial burden," saysAleina Tweed, a surveillance epidemiologist with the B.C. Centre forDisease Control and lead author of the study, which was supported bythe British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women's Health.Dr. Tweed stressed the study does not prove a cause-and-effect link."This wasn't a study to lead us to say that because women got breastimplants, they got sick, or they had problems. But, there is obviouslysomething going on that is affecting their health, or women whosehealth does not support having a breast implant are still being giventhem."The study comes as critics brace for the possible return ofsilicone-gel filled breast implants to the open market in Canada, andat a time when breast implants appear

to be more popular than ever.Two weeks ago, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel< BR>voted in favour of lifting a ban on silicone-gel breast implants.The controversial devices were pulled from the market in the UnitedStates and Canada in 1992, following reports linking them toarthritis, vascular disease and a range of autoimmune disorders.Currently, the implants are available in Canada only through thegovernment's special access program, but at least one manufacturer isseeking Health Canada approval to make its implants widely available."We're very concerned because we know Health Canada pays attention towhat goes on at the FDA," says Kathleen O'Grady, of the CanadianWomen's Health Network.The B.C. researchers are calling on Health Canada to create a nationalbreast implant registry to track the long-term health risks of thesurgery and to more quickly alert women to potentially faulty

devices.Several countries, including the United States and the U.K., have suchregistries.Dr. Tweed checked the health records of 147 consenting women in B.C.who had breast implant surgery using either a saline or silicone-gelimplant. Almost two-thirds had silicone-gel implants as their firstset of implants.The women were compared with 583 women in B.C. whose anonymous healthrecords were chosen at random and who were believed not to have hadimplants.Dr. Tweed found women with breast implants were about four times morelikely to be admitted to hospital over the 11-year study period, andsignificantly more likely to see doctors, chiropractors, massagetherapists, anesthesiologists and other specialists.Women with implants were more likely to be hospitalized "electively,"as compared with an urgent or emergency case, and they were morelikely to see general and plastic surgeons when they went intohospital.

For example, 21% of the women with implants saw a plasticsurgeon, versus 2% for women without implants.< BR>Of the breast-implant group, 92 women agreed to answer questions abouttheir experience. Half reported having one additional breast-implantrelated surgery; 23% had two; 28% had three or more. Thirty-seven ofthe women, or 40%, had their implants permanently removed."It's an astonishingly high number," Dr. Tweed says.Scar capsules can form around breast implants, which can cause breasthardness and pain. Implants can also deflate, rupture or leak.There were no significant differences in hospitalizations between thewomen who had saline implants and those with gel-filled implants.Most of the women who completed the questionnaires rated their healthas "excellent" or "good" compared with other women their age.However, half had been diagnosed with at least one chronic illness,and one-third "felt that they

had lost or quit their job or reducedtheir hours because of health problems," the study says. Most sai d theproblems started after they got their breast implants.Ottawa plastic surgeon Dr. Callaghan, who has been in practicefor more than 20 years, says it is "very uncommon" for cosmeticsurgery patients to have their implants removed. "It's an extremelysmall number."He also noted that, during the "silicone-gel phobia" in the early1990s, many women had their silicone implants replaced with salineones, "largely for peace of mind."

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