The federal government-funded Australian Breast Device Registry (ABDR), led by Monash University, says almost 50,000 women have had their breast devices registered.
The register, which was established in 2015, was established in 2015 to track the long-term safety and performance of breast devices and benchmark the quality of surgery involving breast implants, breast tissue expanders and a soft tissue substitute called matrix.
According to ABDR's most recent annual report, 11,960 patients who had breast device surgery were included in the registry in 2019, bringing the cumulative total to 49,563 registered patients between 2012- 2019.
Monash University academic lead Professor Susannah Ahern said, “The ABDR was in a position to help requesting surgeons and hospitals to rapidly identify their patients with suspended implants so that they could contact them in a timely manner and offer a clinical review.
“Many patients also contacted the registry directly to learn whether their implants were on the suspended list.”
“The registry helps give patients and their families peace of mind that there is a secure, permanent record of their device and that long-term monitoring of device safety continues while they get on with their lives after the surgery,” said Professor Ahern.
In 2019, 563 surgeons from 277 hospitals and day surgeries contributed detailed procedural and device details to the registry. Many patients also volunteer personal feedback via an online questionnaire about breast pain or tightness several years after the surgery to help the registry identify potential early signals of complications.
Monash University leads the ABDR in conjunction with clinical leadership from the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS) and Breast Surgeons of Australia and New Zealand Inc. (BreastSurgANZ) and works closely with the TGA.