FDA receives reports of cancer linked to breast implants

Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received several reports of certain types of cancers in the scar tissue that forms around breast implants, the agency said in a safety notice on Thursday.

As of Sept. 1, 2022, the FDA had received 10 reports about squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, and 12 reports about various lymphomas related to breast implants.

Right now, we do not have enough information to say whether breast implants cause these cancers or if some implants pose higher risk than others, the agency said in a separate report.

Last year, the agency added new restrictions, warning labels for breasts implants following reports of women who developed breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, or BIA-ALCL, a cancer of the immune system.

The FDA said the new lymphoma cases were distinct from BIA-ALCL reported earlier.

It said the occurrences of cancers in scar tissues around an implant may be rare and currently the incidence rate and risk factors are unknown.