Fw: Pathologic findings in nerve and muscle biopsies from 47 women with silicone breast implants

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From: " Kathi " <pureheart@...>

Sent: Monday, August 05, 2002 11:17 AM

Subject: Pathologic findings in nerve and muscle biopsies from 47 women with

silicone breast implants

> Neurology 1999;53:293 © 1999 American Academy of Neurology

>

> Pathologic findings in nerve and muscle biopsies from 47 women with

> silicone breast implants

>

> Hannes Vogel, MD From the Department of Pathology, Baylor College of

> Medicine, Houston, TX.

>

> ------------

>

> Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Hannes Vogel,

> Department of Pathology, MC1-2261, Texas Children's Hospital, 6621

> Fannin St., Houston, TX

> 77030; e-mail: vogel@...

>

> OBJECTIVE: To describe the pathologic findings in 47 consecutively

> received nerve and muscle biopsies from patients with silicone breast

> implants (SBI).

>

> BACKGROUND: The controversial proposal that systemic illness may result

> from SBI includes diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system.

>

> METHODS: All of the biopsies were processed in full according to current

> standard methodologies in nerve and muscle pathology. Myelinated fiber

> histograms were prepared in 40 of the 47 cases.

>

> RESULTS: Eight of the 47 nerves showed pathologic changes likely to be

> symptomatic: 7 with an axonal neuropathy, including 1 with a

> granulomatous neuritis and myositis and 1 with diabetic neuropathy, and

> the eighth with a hypertrophic onion bulb neuropathy. Eleven showed

> minor morphologic or morphometric alterations of uncertain clinical

> significance. The remaining 28 nerve biopsies were normal, including 1

> in which the accompanying muscle showed an inflammatory myopathy typical

> of polymyositis.

>

> CONCLUSIONS: These findings represent the largest set of reported

> pathologic data derived from women with SBI. Within this highly selected

> cohort of women with SBI, the majority of the biopsies were normal, and

> in 9 of 47 diverse abnormalities were detected including axonal and

> demyelinating neuropathies and inflammatory myopathies. These findings

> do not support a consistent association between SBI and any

> neuropathologic entity.

>

>

>