Episode 47: BIA/ALCL Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Millions of women across the globe have undergone breast augmentation using a medical device called a breast implant. This is done for reasons such as cosmesis, sometimes called enhancement of the breast, but also for trauma to the chest wall or for oncological reasons meaning breast cancer.

Any surgery is not without risks. Using a medical device like a breast implant is not different. This is the focus of our discussion on this episode of the DiepCJourney podcast. My guest is a leading expert in the field. We are going to discuss the medical definition, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment BIA/ALCL. This stands for breast implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. It is an uncommon form of ALCL.

I am speaking to Dr. Mark Clemens. After receiving his Medical Doctorate from Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Dr. Clemens completed his Plastic Surgery residency at Georgetown University. In 2010, he came to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas where he completed a fellowship in Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Clemens is an active researcher whose interests include BIA-ALCL, long term implant outcomes, robotic-assisted, microvascular, and reconstructive surgery of the breast.

He is the author of the book, Phoenix Rising: Empower & Transform Through Breast Reconstruction. I am honored to list this book on the DiepCJourney Resources tab under Books.

Links to Dr. Clemens social media links can be found here:

LinkedIn: Mark Clemens MD, MBA, FACS

Facebook: faceook.com/clemensmd

Instagram: instagram.com/mclemensmd/

Twitter: twitter.com/clemensmd