Faulty breast implants fitted pre-2001

THE NUMBER of women known to be affected by faulty silicone gel breast implants is set to rise following a warning yesterday from French regulators that PIP implants manufactured prior to 2001 may also have contained industrial grade silicone.

It is understood the number of additional women affected in the Republic may be in low double figures.

In a statement last night, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) said it had requested implanting clinics in the Republic to identify and contact any women who may have been implanted with the implants before January 1st, 2001.

It said in order to identify numbers, the board’s compliance staff was conducting a detailed examination of the records of the UK distributor of the implants. “This, in addition to feedback from the clinics, will assist in establishing the number of PIP implants in Ireland used prior to 2001,” it said.

Concerns about the French-made implants emerged late last year. The implants, said to be filled with a type of silicone used in mattresses, have been linked to the death of a woman in France from a rare form of cancer and are implicated in other cases. An investigation into PIP found it was using silicone not approved by health authorities but was about 10 times cheaper.

Until now it had been thought that only PIP implants manufactured between 2001 and 2010 had been made with the coarse, non-medical-grade silicone, with about 1,500 Irish women affected.

Among the clinics said to have used the implants were the Harley Medical Group, Shandon Street Hospital in Cork and Clane hospital in Co Kildare.

The implants were not used by surgeons operating in public hospitals here.

The IMB advises any women with these implants who have any concerns about their breasts or implants to seek clinical advice from their implanting surgeon or their GP.