Dramatic rise in PIP breast implant ruptures in Australia

A staggering 429 breast implants produced by French company PIP, have ruptured between January and September this year, according to new figures from the medicines watchdog, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). This number rose from just 37 recorded at the start of the year.

In January, the TGA said it would not call for the more than 6000 Aussie women who have PIP implants to have them removed, despite the French Government recommending all French women have them taken out. At the time the TGA said they had received only 37 indications of rupture and this was “well within the expected rupture rate for silicone breast implants.”

But independent Senator Nick Xenophon said the alarming new figures were proof the Government must take action. "The government needs to act on this as a matter of urgency," Senator Xenophon said. The TGA has been accused of playing down the danger PIP implants posed to Aussie women because it had no statistical evidence of widespread ruptures.

Public Health Association president Michael Moore said: “They didn’t have a system, a methodical system, for recording the number of implants. Therefore the conclusion was there was no danger.” 
“The real issue at the time was there was no national register,” he said.
Senator Xenaphon branded the low number of ruptures recorded as a "systemic failure" and said lives and taxpayer dollars were at stake. 



“These registers will not only save many millions of health dollars being spent on avoiding a mess.
“Most importantly, it’ll save pain, suffering and, in some cases, lives, by preventing these devices from being on the market in the first place.” The Federal Government’s parliamentary secretary for health, Catherine King, told news.com.au the Government was looking for funding options for a clinical register.  The TGA did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. 

A report from an expert panel in the UK said the PIP implants were “clearly substandard” and were between two and six times more likely to rupture than other implants. In March the Federal Government announced women with PIP implants could access Medicare rebates for MRI scans to check implants. And if doctors believe there's a physical or psychological reason for women to have their PIP implants removed, Medicare rebates are also available. The rebates pay for fees charged by medical staff - but not for replacement breast implants.

Many women require breast implants after a mastectomy or because of congenital abnormalities as well for cosmetic reasons.
Rod Coote, the president of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons, said 30 to 40 per cent of patients at his clinic received implants because they had a masectomy. More than a thousand Aussie women with PIP implants have signed on to a potential lawsuit about the implants. 

There was good news for women with implants in June, with an expert UK health panel ruling PIP implants are not associated with breast cancer as was feared.

news.com.au

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