Article: Silicone implants not associated with connective tissue disease.

2004 JUL 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Mentor Corp. (MNT), a leading supplier of medical products in the United States and internationally, announced that a peer-reviewed article published June 2004 in the Annals of Plastic Surgery confirmed earlier published findings that found no correlation between women with connective tissue disease and silicone gel-filled breast implants.

"Silicone breast implants and connective tissue disease: An updated review of the epidemiologic evidence" was written by Joseph K. McLaughlin, PhD, from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and colleagues (Ann. Plast. Surg. 52(6):598-601). The journal article reviewed the findings of epidemiological studies published since 1999 to investigate the association between cosmetic silicone breast implants and hypothesized new atypical connective tissue diseases.

In the article the authors concluded that "the most recent epidemiologic investigations have been remarkably consistent with earlier epidemiologic studies in finding no evidence of an excess of any individual connective tissue disease or all connective tissue diseases combined, including both established and atypical or undefined connective tissue disease, among women with cosmetic silicone breast implants."

According to the authors, these findings confirmed earlier results published by the Independent Review Group, Institute of Medicine (IOM), and the National Science Panel, all of which reviewed the body of scientific ...