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
