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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Plast Surg 2010; 43(02): 206-209
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1699437
Case Report
Association of Plastic Surgeons of India

Axillary silicone lymphadenopathy secondary to augmentation mammaplasty

Dimitrios M. Dragoumis
Department of General Surgery, Breast Division, St Luke's Hospital, Panorama, 55 236, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Anthoula S. Assimaki
Department of General Surgery, Breast Division, St Luke's Hospital, Panorama, 55 236, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Triantafyllos I. Vrizas
1   Department of Plastic Surgery, St Luke's Hospital, Panorama, 55 236, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Aris P. Tsiftsoglou
Department of General Surgery, Breast Division, St Luke's Hospital, Panorama, 55 236, Thessaloniki, Greece
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
15 January 2020 (online)

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ABSTRACT

We report a case involving a 45-year-old woman, who presented with an axillary mass 10 years after bilateral cosmetic augmentation mammaplasty. A lump was detected in the left axilla, and subsequent mammography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated intracapsular rupture of the left breast prosthesis. An excisional biopsy of the left axillary lesion and replacement of the ruptured implant was performed. Histological analysis showed that the axillary lump was lymph nodes containing large amounts of silicone. Silicone lymphadenopathy is an obscure complication of procedures involving the use of silicone. It is thought to occur following the transit of silicone droplets from breast implants to lymph nodes by macrophages and should always be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients in whom silicone prostheses are present.

KEY WORDS

Augmentation - breast prostheses - implant - mammaplasty - silicone lymphadenopathy - ruptured breast implant
 

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