health implications of the implant, the Food and Drug Administration banned its vania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennuse for augmentation mammaplasty and limited its use in the mastectomy patient sylvania.
to a research protocol study. This article reviews the recent literature about the Department of Surgery, Service of Plastic Surpossible health hazards of the silicone implant. gery, Bryn Mawr Hospital, Bryn Mawr, Pennsyl-
METHODS.
In this review of the literature, specific attention was directed toward vania.
structural failure of the device as well as the diagnosis of rupture, tissue response to silicone, systemic immunologic response to silicone, the relationship of silicone to connective tissue diseases, and the association of the silicone implant with breast carcinoma in both the augmentation mammaplasty patient and the patient undergoing postmastectomy reconstruction. A total of 88 works were reviewed.
RESULTS.
The literature fails to support an association between silicone gel breast implants and systemic diseases. Although implants may cause local symptoms, rupture over time, or be associated with an immunologic reaction, comprehensive epidemiologic studies have concluded that there is no connection between breast implants and the known connective tissue diseases or between the implants and breast carcinoma. There is no increase in the risk of recurrence in mastectomy patients reconstructed with implants and no delay in the detection of recurrences.
Recent laboratory studies in animals suggest that silicone may have anticarcinogenic effects.