Following is a news release based on an article published in the June issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). The AAN is an association of more than 14,500 neurologists and neuroscience professionals dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. For a copy of the full article or for more information, contact Sarah Parsons or Rona Stewart at 612-623-8115 or by e-mail [email protected].

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 1997

No Proven Tie Shown Between Silicone Breast Implants and Neurologic Disorders

Existing research shows no link between silicone breast implants and neurological disorders, according to a special article published by the American Academy of Neurology's Practice Committee in the June issue of the Academy's scientific journal, Neurology.

"Due to the overwhelming publicity, but relatively little scientific evidence relating silicone breast implants to neurologic disease, the committee undertook a literature review and a survey of AAN members and others to find out if there was any substance to this purported relationship," said neurologist John Ferguson, MD, chair of the Therapeutics & Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the AAN's Practice Committee and author of the study. "There is presently no evidence at all that silicone breast implants cause neurological disease."

A medical literature search was performed through 1975. Close to 700 articles were found relating adverse affects to silicone breast implants. The majority of these articles were concerned with connective tissue disorders. Only 14 articles involved neurologic manifestations. Most of these 14 reports do not outline neurological disorders but often describe case reports of painful syndromes. The reports were case series of patients who had both neurological symptoms and breast implants. "These studies were without controls, and are the poorest form of evidence," said Ferguson, who is also the director of the Office of Medical Applications of Research at the National Institutes of Health. "The appropriate studies to show or disprove a relationship haven't been done," said Ferguson. The committee described the published literature linking the risk of neurologic disease to silicone breast implants as meager. "The few published papers were primarily from one individual and were not conducted in such a way to show any cause and effect relationship between silicone breast implants and neurological disorders," he said. An estimated one to two million women in the United States have silicone breast implants. - end -

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