A collection of Silicone autoimmune reactions

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1: Med Hypotheses. 1993 Oct;41(4):348-52. Links

Silicone-reactive disorder: a new autoimmune disease caused by immunostimulation and superantigens.

Lappe MA.

College of Medicine, Dept of Medical Education, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Over 100 cases of disorders closely resembling classic autoimmune diseases have been reported among patients who were injected or implanted with a diverse group of chemicals including paraffins, vegetable oils or silicone. Most cases have occurred in silicone breast implant recipients, especially those who received their prostheses 2-10 years prior to onset of symptoms. A high proportion of patients exhibit classic signs and symptoms of Sjogren's syndrome or scleroderma. Affected patients typically experience some combination of fatigue, myalgia, joint pain, sicca syndrome (dry eyes and mouth), synovitis, rash, alopecia, muscular weakness or lymphadenopathy, and autoantibody formation. Less commonly, patients may have the CREST syndrome (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomena, esophageal hypomotility, sclerodactyly and telangiectasias), hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis, or central nervous system pathology.

PMID: 8289701 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Silicone-reactive disorder: a new autoimmune disea...[Med Hypotheses. 1993] - PubMed Result

1: J Am Acad Dermatol. 1994 Oct;31(4):626-42.Links

Autoimmune connective tissue disease and connective tissue disease-like illnesses after silicone gel augmentation mammoplasty.

Houpt KR, Sontheimer RD.

Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas 75235-9069.

Since first reported in 1982, published anecdotal reports have appeared with increasing frequency of patients in whom autoimmune connective tissue diseases developed after mammary augmentation with silicone gel-filled elastomer envelope-type prostheses. Although scleroderma has been reported most often, other diagnoses have included systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren's syndrome, and mixed connective tissue disease. Other patients have ill-defined connective tissue-like illnesses often referred to as "human adjuvant disease." The occurrence of dermatomyositis and polymyositis after silicone breast implants appears to be infrequent. We report two new cases of dermatomyositis after silicone exposure. In addition, a comprehensive review of the literature pertaining to rheumatic disease and silicone gel augmentation mammoplasty is presented to provide some perspective on this highly complicated and controversial subject.

PMID: 8089290 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Autoimmune connective tissue disease and connectiv...[J Am Acad Dermatol. 1994] - PubMed Result

1: Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 1992 Feb 28;112(6):763-4.Links

[silicone breast implants and collagen diseases]

[Article in Norwegian]

Haga HJ, Haaland P, Haga T.

Revmatologisk avdeling, Haukeland sykehus, Bergen.

Connective tissue disease has been reported to occur following implantation of silicone gel-filled prostheses to augment the breast. In this case report and review of the literature, two patients are described in whom connective tissue disease developed within one and three years respectively after cosmetic surgery. One developed dermatomyositis with lung fibrosis, and the other developed cutaneous lupus and a Sjögren-like syndrome. Both suffered serious complications due to vasculitis. Although evidence of a causal relationship between the implantation and the development of connective tissue disease is circumstantial, removal of the silicone prosthesis has been reported to result in subsequent remission.

PMID: 1561598 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[silicone breast implants and collagen diseases] [Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 1992] - PubMed Result

1: Arch Dermatol. 1993 Jan;129(1):63-8.Links

Comment in: Arch Dermatol. 1993 Jan;129(1):97-8.

Demonstration of silicon in sites of connective-tissue disease in patients with silicone-gel breast implants.

Silver RM, Sahn EE, JA, Sahn S, Greene W, Maize JC, Garen PD.

Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, ton.BACKGROUND AND DESIGN. Silica, Silastic, and silicone (any organic compound in which silicon replaces carbon) have been associated with a number of connective-tissue diseases, most commonly systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Silicone is known to leak from breast implants and spread to surrounding tissues, including lymph nodes, but silicone's role in the origin and pathogenesis of the inflammation and fibrosis related to such conditions remains controversial. Synovial tissue, alveolar macrophages, and skin, each from three different patients with silicone-gel implants, plus the breast implant capsules from each of the three patients, were examined by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis for the presence of silicon-containing material. RESULTS. Silicon was identified within the fibrous breast capsule of each case, associated with a chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate. Silicon was also identified within tissues involved by chronic inflammation and fibrosis, namely, synovium, skin, and alveolar macrophages, in association with clinical, serologic, and histologic evidence of connective tissue disease. All three patients improved after removal of the silicone-gel breast implants. CONCLUSIONS. The presence of silicon-containing material within sites of connective-tissue disease supports a role for silicon in the origin or pathogenesis of such conditions in patients with silicone-gel breast implants. All patients with connective-tissue disease should be questioned about exposure to various forms of silicon. In those patients with known exposure, tissue specimens should be examined carefully for silicon-containing material and, if found, the source should be removed.PMID: 8420493 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Demonstration of silicon in sites of connective-ti...[Arch Dermatol. 1993] - PubMed Result

1: Plast Reconstr Surg. 1995 Mar;95(3):513-9.Links

Electron probe microanalysis of silicon and the role of the macrophage in proximal (capsule) and distant sites in augmentation mammaplasty patients.

Greene WB, Raso DS, Walsh LG, Harley RA, Silver RM.

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, ton.Electron probe x-ray microanalysis was used to locate silicon (Si) within macrophages from 12 women who had previously undergone polymer prosthesis augmentation or reconstruction. Silicon was identified within macrophages and extracellularly in all fibrous breast capsules. In four women with arthritic joint pain and one woman with sclerodermatous skin lesions, silicon also was identified within macrophages residing in joint synovium and skin, respectively. It is suggested that the silicon-laden macrophages observed in the remote lesions may have accumulated silicon from other macrophages that had previously resided in the connective-tissue capsule around the silicone breast implants.PMID: 7870776 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Electron probe microanalysis of silicon and the ro...[Plast Reconstr Surg. 1995] - PubMed Result

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