Chronic Pulmonary Silicone Embolism from Breast Augmentation Is Not a Common Finding in Explanted Lungs

Table 1

Reported cases of chronic pulmonary silicone embolism from the breast implants.

Case	Age/sex	Symptoms	Radiographic finding on CT chest	Type of implant (silicone versus saline)	Histopathology; (microscopic and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, EDX)
1	41/F	Dyspnea	Diffuse GGO	Silicone	(i) Clear, nonbirefringent globules characteristic of silicone emboli; (ii) EDX not performed
2	45/F	Dyspnea	Diffuse GGO	Saline	(i) Clear, nonbirefringent globules on microscopy; (ii) Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) showed silicone emboli
3	72/F	Dyspnea	Diffuse GGO and reticular opacities	Silicone	(i) Clear, nonbirefringent globules on microscopy; (ii) Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) showed silicone emboli
4	56/F	Chronic illness	Not available	Silicone	(i) Silicone plaques in the lungs on microscopy; (ii) Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) showed silicone emboli
5	59/F	Dyspnea	Diffuse pulmonary infiltrates and consolidations	Double lumen prosthesis (cohesive gel and saline solution)	(i) Translucent vacuolated globular deposits of silicone

GGO: ground glass opacities; EDX: energy-dispersive X-ray analysis.