Chest. 2005 May;127(5):1854-7

Silicone thorax due to a ruptured breast implant.

Levine RL, Allen TC, Cartwright J Jr, Cagle PT.

Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas School of Medicine, Houston, USA. Robert.Levine@uth.tmc.edu

A woman with a history of bilateral mastectomy and silicone implants for fibrocystic disease and a history of atrial septal defect repair presented with pleural nodules on a chest radiograph. A thorascopic biopsy performed for possible mesothelioma demonstrated chronic inflammation and focal pleural fibrosis due to a foreign-body reaction secondary to silicone. This was confirmed using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive radiograph elemental analysis. As the population ages, the increasing frequency of ruptured silicone implants and the need for heart surgery may result in a corresponding increase in the risk for fibrothorax secondary to inadvertent silicone introduction during surgery.

PMID: 15888870 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Implant Research

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