Silicone Gel Breast Implants and Connective Tissue Disease—A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Silicone breast implants have been in use for breast reconstruction and breast augmentation for a long time. In the late 80's anecdotal reports describing a possible association between silicone-gel filled breast implants, and autoimmune diseases was accumulating. Due to the growing concern about the safety of silicone-gel implants, the Food and Drug administration (FDA) restricted their use to participants in controlled clinical trials, including women having reconstructive surgery. However, in recent years, large meta-analyses were unable to establish an association between silicone-gel breast implants and autoimmune disease. We review the current literature, emphasizing the most important epidemiologic studies.

Antinuclear Antibody and Rheumatoid Factor in Silica-Exposed Workers

“…Immune disorders and specifi cally auto-immune disorders were observed in silicosis patients with long-term exposure to silica dust and in patients who had silicon implants (12).…”

“…There is a strong evidence supporting that exposure to crystalline silica produces several immune responses (12)(13)(14), but there are opposing views regarding the changes in RF and ANA levels following silica exposure.…”

En kvinne i 30-årene med feber av ukjent årsak

“…Remission of assumed sarcoidosis after removal of silicone breast implants has also been described (26). Silicone has been shown to induce autoimmunity in various animal models (27), but no definite connection has been found between autoimmunity and silicone implants in humans (19,20,28,29).…”

Síndrome de intestino irritable y autoinmunidad

“…Estudios histopatológicos en estos pacientes han demostrado altos niveles de anticuerpos tipo IgG, células Th1/Th17 y citocinas en la cápsula de silicona de los implantes protésicos mamarios 38,39 . Adicionalmente, la silicona se puede filtrar desde las prótesis hacia tejidos adyacentes o diseminarse distalmente, induciendo una reacción a cuerpo extraño caracterizada por activación de células inmunitariass, fibrosis y la formación de granulomas que contienen silicona [40][41][42][43][44][45][46] . La teoría de una respuesta autoinmune/inflamatoria con la formación de autoanticuerpos, células reactivas y citocinas, ha sido apoyada por modelos animales [47][48][49] .…”