BREAST-CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND SURVIVAL IN WOMEN WITH AND WITHOUT BREASTIMPLANTS

The stage at diagnosis and the survival experience of 41 women who dev eloped breast cancer after cosmetic breast augmentation were compared with those of all other patients with breast cancer (n = 13,246) diagn osed in Alberta from 1973 to 1990 (inclusive). The tumors in women wit h breast implants were smaller (65.9 percent less-than-or-equal-to 2 c m) as compared with the tumors in women without implants (34.1 percent less-than-or-equal-to 2 cm), but lymph node and distant metastases we re equally frequent in the two groups. The distribution of tumor histo logic types did not differ significantly between women with or without implants. Women who had an implant were younger at diagnosis of breas t cancer compared with women with breast cancer and no breast implants . The relative 5- and 10-year survival rates did not differ significan tly between the two groups, and the Kaplan-Meier survival estimate als o was similar. It is concluded that women with breast implants in whom breast cancer develops are not diagnosed in a later stage and do not experience an impaired survival as compared with breast cancer patient s without implants.