RESEARCH - Silicone breast implants and connective tissue disease: no association

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Semin Immunopathol. 2011 Jan 10. [Epub ahead of print]

Silicone breast implants and connective tissue disease: no association.

Lipworth L, Holmich LR, McLaughlin JK.

International Epidemiology Institute, 1455 Research Blvd, Suite 550,

Rockville, MD, 20850, USA.

Abstract

The association of silicone breast implants with connective tissue

diseases (CTDs), including systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus

erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia, as well as a

hypothesized new " atypical " disease, which does not meet established

diagnostic criteria for any known CTD, has been extensively studied.

We have reviewed the epidemiologic literature regarding an association

between cosmetic breast implants and CTDs, with particular emphasis on

results drawn from the most recent investigations, many of which are

large cohort studies with long-term follow-up, as well as on those

studies that address some of the misinformation and historically

widespread claims regarding an association between breast implants and

CTDs. These claims have been unequivocally refuted by the remarkably

consistent evidence from published studies, as well as numerous

independent meta-analyses and critical reviews, which have

demonstrated that cosmetic breast implants are not associated with a

subsequent increased occurrence of individual CTDs or all CTDs

combined, including fibromyalgia. Moreover, there is no credible

evidence for the conjectured excess of " atypical " CTD among women with

cosmetic breast implants, or of a rheumatic symptom profile unique to

these women. No increased risk of CTDs is evident in women with

extracapsular ruptures in two studies, which evaluated risk by implant

rupture status, and no consistent association has been observed

between silicone breast implants and a variety of serologic markers or

autoantibodies. Thus, any claims that remain regarding an association

between cosmetic breast implants and CTDs are not supported by the

scientific literature but rather are a residual byproduct of the

unprecedented large-scale product liability litigation in the USA.

PMID: 21369953

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21369953

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