Spain's Health Ministry has confirmed more than a hundred cases of this rare cancer linked to breast implants, mostly in women with textured prostheses.
The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) has confirmed a total of 111 cases of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) up to 2025, a rare type of cancer linked to breast implants. In all, the agency has received 146 suspected reports since it began monitoring this condition in 2012.
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The figures appear in the sixth follow-up report on the national protocol for the detection and study of this type of lymphoma, drawn up on the basis of notifications recorded in the Medical Devices Surveillance System. For years now, AEMPS has been carrying out specific monitoring of this disease together with medical societies and European health authorities.
According to the report released by the agency, Madrid is the autonomous community with the highest number of reports, ahead of Andalusia, Catalonia and the Valencian Community.
A rare cancer linked to certain implants
Breast implant-associated ALCL, known internationally as BIA-ALCL, is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that does not originate in breast tissue, but in immune system cells that can develop in the fibrous capsule of tissue surrounding the implant.
AEMPS stresses that this is a rare disease and points out that its incidence remains low compared with the very large number of women with breast implants. Nevertheless, the agency underlines the importance of maintaining surveillance and improving early detection.
Research carried out so far suggests that the disease has a multifactorial origin. Factors under study include the type of implant used, certain genetic predispositions and possible inflammatory processes or contamination associated with the implant. However, experts stress that no definitive causal relationship has yet been established and the mechanism that triggers the lymphoma is still not exactly known.
