Frustration as textured breast implants keep being sold despite cancer risk

Karen Lazarovitz said she's "angry" after having a double mastectomy to avoid developing breast cancer, only to find herself with implants that carry a cancer risk.

"I removed my healthy breasts to not get cancer, and now I'm in a completely different situation, but almost the same situation," she said.

The Quebec Health Ministry said Monday that it wants all the thousands of women in the province who have received textured breast implants since 1995 to be warned of a potential cancer risk.

The government has asked the province's hospitals and clinics to contact all patients who received that specific type of implant in the last 24 years to inform them of the symptoms of anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a form of cancer.

Lazarovitz said that doesn't go far enough and wants textured implants taken off the market.

She had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer because of an inherited BRCA gene mutation. She got smooth implants in 2008, then removed them because of complications.

In 2011, she got textured implants and is still debating if she's going to have another surgery to have them removed.

"Every plastic surgeon, or everyone involved in this says the same thing: 'If you have any signs or symptoms go to your doctor and they can catch it.' But that's not a good solution! 'Go and catch your cancer early, don't worry about it,'" Lazarovitz said.

A ministry spokesperson, Marie-Claude Lacasse, says the chance of developing the cancer is very low — only about one in 30,000 — but the government still wants women to be informed.

Class-action lawsuit

The Quebec government's decision follows an update by Health Canada published in mid-February that noted an increase in the number of cases of anaplastic large cell lymphoma associated with textured breast implants in Canadian women.

As of Jan. 1, Health Canada had been informed of 22 confirmed and 22 suspected cases.

Lawyer Joey Zukran has filed a class-action lawsuit against the implant manufacturers.

"I think there's more to be done. I think they should halt the implementation of these implants — halt the surgeries for textured implants," Zukran said.

The federal department says this isn't a breast cancer but a rare form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — a cancer affecting the immune system that can appear several months or even years after implant surgery.

The province estimates that 15,000 Quebec women have received textured implants, which are chosen by about 10 per cent of patients receiving implants.

A mastectomy is an invasive procedure that removes the entire breast, with significant recovery time and a risk of complications.

Some women choose to have the surgery as a preventive measure due to an inherited risk of breast cancer that is higher than the general population. Actress Angelina Jolie sought to raise awareness about the procedure in 2013 when she published an op-ed in the New York Times about her decision to remove her breasts.

"The majority of women considering their breast cancer risk should focus on things like a healthy lifestyle, eating a balanced diet, keeping a healthy weight and not drinking too much alcohol," Dr. Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research U.K., told CBC News at the time.