GERMANY: Health authorities advise women to have PIP breast implants removed

Record ID: 860771

  • Title: GERMANY: Health authorities advise women to have PIP breast implants removed
  • Date: 10th January 2012
  • Summary: VOGT SHOWING AND COMPARING DIFFERENT IMPLANTS MORE OF IMPLANTS
  • Embargoed: 25th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany, Germany
  • City:
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Health,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA57RU8C20EM35J7OZF0T7CLH6E
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: German authorities advised women with silicone breast implants manufactured by a French firm accused of using unapproved industrial-grade material to have them removed.
    The Federal Office for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices said reports from doctors had shown the implants may constitute a health risk even if they had not yet shown signs of rupture.
    "With the knowledge we currently have, we can eliminate or let's say not prove the risk of cancer. At the same time the seeping out of silicone material led to lumps in the breast at first and later also in other parts of the body and at least in the scientific literature, the general suspicion is mentioned that the so called "Siliconome" could degrade into cancer," the body's president, Walter Schwerdtfeger, told Reuters TV on Monday (January 9).
    Peter Maria Vogt, director of the German society for plastic, reconstructive and aesthetical surgery, welcomed the warning.
    "I think that is the right decision. As we don't know how many patients are affected, the basic advice has to be given out, to visit the doctor and to remove the implant in case of any doubts," said Vogt.
    Germany advised women with the implants to have them examined last month, but reports showing that silicone could seep out of implants without signs of tearing led the Office to raise its risk assessment.
    "The problem with the concerned implants is the case of them, which doesn't show the right firmness due to the filling, which is too solvent and also consists of silicone, which is not allowed for medical use. Therefore it can be leaky and seep out into the proximity, cause irritations and inflammation," Vogt added.
    The death from cancer last year of a French woman using the implants made by the now-defunct Poly Implant Prothese SA (PIP) has caused a global health scare.
    Some 300,000 PIP implants were sold worldwide before the French company went bankrupt in 2010.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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