Breast Implants Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Breast Implants, including details on silicone implant, breast augmentation, surgery, risks.

Rupture of an expander prosthesis mimics axillary cancer recurrence.

Ismael T, Kelly J, Regan PJ

Plastic Surgery Department, University College Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway, Ireland. thamirss@hotmail.com

Regional silicone gel migration from a ruptured breast implant has been reported at different locations including the upper extremity, chest wall muscles, axilla and back. We report a patient who presented with an axillary mass that mimicked a regional recurrence 5 years after breast cancer reconstruction with a latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap and silicon gel expander-prosthesis. Surgical exploration revealed that the mass contained silicone gel around the port of the breast expander that had ruptured. The mass was confluent with an intracapsular silicone leak through a tract along the tube of the expander port.

Published 23 September 2005 in Br J Plast Surg, 58(7): 1027-8.
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