PARIS – Doctors in France have removed PIP breast implants from more than 16,000 women and found that a quarter of the scandal-tainted products had signs of splitting or leakage.
A total of 16,426 women have had the implants removed since investigators found that the devices were twice as likely to rupture as rival brands and that French manufacturer PIP had used industrial silicone to fill them, the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) said. Of the 28,276 implants that have been removed, 25.4 percent were defective, it said.
The ANSM’s figures apply only to France. An estimated 300,000 women in 65 countries are believed to have received the implants.