Are textured breast implants linked to worse breast cancer outcomes? JAMA article.

Posted on January 21, 2021

We know textured implants are linked to a rare cancer called ALCL. But I have never seen any other associations with anything bad, and textured implants can be great for women who have thin skin flaps, as the texturing helps keep the implant from stretching out the skin and migrating.

So when I saw this catchy title in my doctor journal news feed, I thought I should look into it.  The paper was in October 2020 JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association- not my usual journal to read, but a highly respected journal).

Study: 650 women who had total mastectomy with breast reconstruction. Study out of S. Korea.

Findings:

What do I think?

I would love to know the manufacturers of the textured implants, as we know Allergan’s texturing has a higher association with ALCL. For the most part, when I went to my national meetings this year (yay virtual meetings!), at both the Aesthetic Plastic Surgical meeting and the ASPS meeting most breast plastic surgeons are not using any textured implants for breast cancer reconstruction or breast augmentation.

But this all reinforces for me inflammation is bad. Period. We are thinking that is true for the heart.  We suspect biofilm and chronic inflammation leads to breast implant capsular contracture. We think chronic low grade inflammation may lead to ALCL. Chronic inflammation may be the root of more evil in the body that we realize.