French health officials on Friday are expected to release the results of an inquiry into whether breast implants produced by a now defunct French company might cause cancer.

Hundreds of thousands of the implants were used by women, most of them in South America and western Europe, for cosmetic surgery or to replace lost breast tissue.

The company, Poly Implant Prothese , produced about 100,000 implants a year before it went bankrupt and was shut down last year. It was discovered the company was using a silicone gel that had not been approved by health authorities.

News reports from Paris say the officials are likely to recommend that the 30,000 French women with the PIP implants have them removed after eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, were reported.