Dutch women advised to have breast implants removed

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

13 years ago

Dutch women advised to have breast implants removed

– Reported, February 04, 2012

Dutch health authorities now say women who had breast implants supplied by the French firm at the centre of a health scare should have them taken out.Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) had used silicone of industrial rather than medical grade to make its implants.

More than 300,000 women worldwide are thought to have had the implants. A number of other countries have already recommended removal of the implants.Previously Dutch authorities had said doctors should check the implants.

The Dutch health inspectorate (IGZ) estimates that 1,000 women in the Netherlands have had PIP implants, and a further 400 have already had them removed.What are the risks?The silicone inside the implants is not medical grade – but was intended for use in mattresses.Tests have not shown any increased risk of toxicity from this filler compared with normal implants But mechanical testing has shown the implant covers have an increased risk of rupturing.The gel inside can be an irritant, increasing the risk of inflammation – making removal more difficult There is no increased breast cancer risk One case of a rare form of cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) was recently reported in France.

French and US experts suggest there is a small but increased risk of this cancer in women with breast implants in general

The new advice comes in a joint opinion from the IGZ and the Dutch association of plastic surgeons. It says that even if an MRI scan showed that the implants had not ruptured, it was still advisable to have them taken out.The risk of surgery and the cost of new implants should be weighed against the risk of the PIP implants leaking, the advice says.Women in the Netherlands should contact the clinic where they were treated, and if that was not possible, then their GP.

Health officials in France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Venezuela have already advised women with PIP implants to have them removed.UK authorities have said that women who had their surgery on the NHS can have the implants removed and replaced free of charge – and that private clinics who fitted implants have a “moral duty” to remove them.

However, the NHS will pay to remove, but not replace, implants if a private clinic refuses or no longer exists. In Wales, unlike the rest of the UK, the government has said it will pay to both remove and replace banned breast implants from women who were treated privately

Credits: BBC News Europe

More Information at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16515509

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