Capsular contracture Caused By Breast Implants

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Grade IV capsular contracture in the right breast of a 29-year-old woman seven years after subglandular placement of 560cc silicone gel-filled breast implants
Grade IV capsular contracture in the right breast of a 29-year-old woman seven years after subglandular placement of 560cc silicone gel-filled breast implants

Capsular contracture is an abnormal response of the immune system to foreign biomaterials and alloplastic materials. It is most discussed in the context of complications from breast implants and artificial joint prosthetics.

Capsules of tightly-woven collagen fibers normally form as an immune response around a foreign body (eg. breast implants, pacemakers, orthopedic joint prosthetics), tending to wall it off. Capsular contracture occurs when the capsule tightens and squeezes the implant. This contracture is a complication that can be very painful and distort the appearance of the implanted breast or limit the range of motion of an artificial joint. The exact cause of contracture is not known. However, some factors include bacterial contamination, silicone breast implant rupture or leakage, and hematoma. Capsular contracture may happen again after additional surgery.

Methods which have reduced capsular contracture include submuscular breast implant placement, using textured[1][2] or polyurethane-coated implants,[3] limiting handling of the implants and skin contact prior to insertion[4] and irrigation with triple-antibiotic solutions.[5]

Correction of capsular contracture may require surgical removal or release of the capsule, or removal and possible replacement of the implant itself. Closed capsulotomy (disrupting the capsule via external manipulation), a once common maneuver for treating hard capsules, has been discouraged as it can cause implant rupture. Nonsurgical methods of treating capsules include massage, external ultrasound,[6] treatment with leukotriene pathway inhibitors (Accolate, Singulair),[7] [8]and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy.[9]

There are four grades of breast capsular contracture - Baker grades I through IV. The Baker grading is as follows:

  • Grade I the breast is normally soft and looks natural
  • Grade II the breast is a little firm but looks normal
  • Grade III the breast is firm and looks abnormal
  • Grade IV the breast is hard, painful, and looks abnormal.

 

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsular_contracture"

What is known about silicone breast implants is that fibrous capsule contracture occurs in about 70% of cases two to four years after implantation. The rate of complications - which include breast pain, contracture, rupture, infection, implant migration requiring surgery - approaches 50% at 10 years. In a Mayo Clinic study, there was a 30% failure rate at 7.8 years. Rheumatologists have described a veritable array of symptoms in more than 1,000 patients with silicone breast implants.

 

Please note that it is extremely important to obtain an accurate diagnosis before trying to find a cure.  Many diseases and conditions share common symptoms: if you treat yourself for the wrong illness or a specific symptom of a complex disease, you may delay legitimate treatment of a serious underlying problem.  In other words, the greatest danger in self-treatment may be self-diagnosis. If you do not know what you really have, you can not treat it!

Knowing how difficult it is to weed out misinformation and piece together countless facts in order to see the "big picture", we now provide simple online access to The Analyst™.  Used by doctors and patients alike, The Analyst™ is a computerized diagnostic tool that sits on a vast accumulation of knowledge and research.  By combining thousands of connections between signs, symptoms, risk factors, conditions and treatments, The Analyst™ will help to build an accurate picture of your current health status, the risks you are running and courses of action (including appropriate lab testing) that should be considered.  Full information is available here.

Autoantibodies to collagen and extracellular matrix proteins and abnormalities of cell-mediated immunity have been found in women with silicone implants and not in controls. There does not appear to be a serologic marker consistently associated with rheumatic disease in these patients. These findings suggest that silicone implants may cause immune dysfunction and rheumatic disease in some patients, but it is very difficult to prove.

Signs & Symptoms
The syndrome includes the symptoms of arthralgia, myalgia, sicca complex, paresthesia, balance disturbance, night sweats, rashes, memory difficulty and fatigue.

Complications
In more than 80% of over 1,000 females with breast implants who were referred to neurologists at Baylor College of Medicine, mild to severe short-term memory loss was discovered. Many of the individuals experienced a 70% recovery when the implants and any loose silicone surrounding them was removed. SPECT testing of 15 of the women found diminished blood flow to the temporal lobe. When the SPECT testing was done after the silicone was removed there was increased blood flow to the temporal lobes.

A full 70% of these thousand women had Sjogren's syndrome; 58% had Raynaud's phenomenon and 60% had dermatitis.

Plastic surgeon and president of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery said the patients in this study are not representative of all silicone breast implant patients and that this was a highly biased and selected group of women being fewer than a thousand out of the million U.S. women who have had breast implants. You are left to draw your own conclusions.  

 
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Silicones have a number of medical applications because they are chemically inert. A good deal of controversy has involved the the use of silicone in polyurethane bags as breast implants. Again they were used because they were thought to be very inert and resistant to dissolving or other reactions. Reports have cited increased cancer risk and severe immune responses from possible leakage of the silicone from the implants.