Actress Evelin Camargo announced she was diagnosed with breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a rare condition detected after a sudden swelling in one breast. The discovery underscores the need for regular monitoring in women with silicone prostheses. Treatment involves removing the implant, as the disease is confined to the capsule around the prosthesis.
Evelin Camargo, an actress and influencer, shared with her followers the diagnosis of a rare cancer linked to breast implants, revealed in a video on Tuesday, February 3. In 2019, she underwent breast reduction surgery and insertion of a small silicone prosthesis to shape the form. At the end of last December, she noticed a sudden increase in the volume of her left breast, which nearly tripled in size overnight.
Initially, doctors suspected a prosthesis rupture, a common complication. However, an MRI revealed the implant was intact, but there was fluid accumulation around it, known as late seroma. Subsequent tests, including fluid puncture and immunohistochemistry, confirmed breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a rare form of lymphatic cancer.
"I was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma caused by the silicone implant," Camargo reported in the video. "It's extremely rare; I had never heard of it, but it happened to me." The good news, according to her, is that staging showed the disease limited to the prosthesis capsule, allowing simple surgical treatment: implant removal.
BIA-ALCL has an estimated incidence of one case per 30,000 women with implants, varying by factors such as prosthesis type and duration of use. Breno Gusmão, from the Medical Committee of the Brazilian Association of Lymphoma and Leukemia, explained: "It's a lymphatic system cancer that manifests in the breast area due to chronic inflammation caused by the prosthesis."
Camargo stressed that her account aims to alert to the importance of regular exams, like ultrasounds, without causing unnecessary panic among implant users.
