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27 December 2004
Implants After Mastectomy Get All-Clear 
For some time, doctors have been concerned about the use of breast implants after mastectomy. While there has been no evidence of adverse health effects for cancer patients in the short term, no representative study has addressed the question in the long term. To clarify the long-term effects, Gem Le and co-researchers from the Northern California Cancer Centre surveyed more than 4,000 women under age 65 who had been treated with mastectomy. The study, published in Breast Cancer Research, revealed that, out of the 21 percent of women who had had an implant after mastectomy for breast cancer, there was a 12.4 percent mortality rate due to breast cancer, compared with 19.7 percent in women without an implant. The women who had an implant were more likely to be younger and of non-Hispanic white ethnicity than women who had no implant. After adjusting for these and other clinical and sociodemographic factors in their analysis, the authors believe that breast cancer mortality in patients with breast implants is about half that of patients without implants. "Further research is needed to explain this survival differential in women with breast implants and those without, by examining potentially explanatory factors such as socioeconomic status, comorbidity, smoking, or other lifestyle factors," the researchers wrote. Breast implants may boost the morale and self-esteem of breast cancer patients, which could improve survival. Implants might have other indirect consequences, such as leading to better medical care and follow-up of women with implants, speculate the researchers. Studies have also suggested that breast implants may also stimulate the immune system and reduce blood flow to the breast, thereby impairing cell and tumour growth.
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