Implants linked to 9 cancer deaths

Nine deaths from a rare kind of cancer have been linked to breast implants, indicating a very low but increased risk in women with such implants, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The cancer is not breast cancer, the FDA emphasized. It is called breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma and mostly occurs in a capsule of tissue that develops around the implant.

This type of cancer usually progresses slowly, and most patients are readily treated with surgery to remove the implant.

On average, the cancer occurs eight years after a woman gets an implant, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. It noted only about 10 new cases are reported worldwide each year.

The reports often omitted the type of implant.

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