Breast implants have been tied to an increased risk for a rare blood cancer, called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).
New research by the
University of Cambridge in the U.K. tied silicone and saline breast implants to the 71 known ALCL cases worldwide, noting the condition strikes up to 6 women in every 3 million who undergo breast augmentation,
Medical News Today reports.
But just because such cases are rare does not mean they should not be investigated, said Matt Kaiser, M.D., head of research at Leukemia and Lymphoma Research in the U.K. — a cancer charity that funded the study:
ALERT: These 5 Things Activate Cancer in Your Body
"It is important to investigate any possible links to what causes these cancers, so that we can help people balance benefits versus risks and so that we can work out how we might be able to prevent the risks altogether."
Breast augmentation is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure in the U.S., with some 290,000 women receiving either silicone or saline breast implants.
(ALCL is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), responsible for around 3 percent of NHLs. It typically appears in the skin, lymph nodes, liver, and soft tissue.
On rare occasions, however, the cancer appears in the breast, and according to this latest research — led by Suzanne Turner, M.D., — almost all cases of breast ALCL have occurred in patients who have had breast augmentation, with the tumors always developing in the scar tissue surrounding the implant.
The study was published in the journal Mutation Research.
© 2026 NewsmaxHealth. All rights reserved.