MASSDEVICE ON CALL — French authorities need to decide whether or not they’re going to ask 30,000 women to have their breast implants removed.
The potentially defective implants were supplied by Poly Implant Prothese and contain a non-authorized silicone gel that causes high rupture rates.
"We have to remove all these implants," Dr. Laurent Lantieri, a plastic surgeon on a special committee investigating the issue told the Liberation newspaper. "We’re facing a health crisis, linked to a fraud."
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Investigations into the PIP implants by the French Society of Plastic Surgeons found them to have a higher rupture rate than implants with approved gels.
French authorities started a criminal investigation into the firm after 2,000 complains from women who received the PIP implants, according to the Le Monde newspaper.
Authorities said that while eight cases of cancer have been reported in patients with PIP implants, the cases were not necessarily linked.
Surgeons have removed 523 implants since the defect was discovered.
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