Open AccessPainful lymphadenopathy due to silicone breast implant rupture following extensive global air travel
Author(s) -
Anastasia A Theodosiou,
Rebecca Houghton,
Nicholas Shepherd,
Patrick Lillie
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
acute medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.14
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1747-4892
pISSN - 1747-4884
DOI - 10.52964/amja.0682
Subject(s) - medicine , context (archaeology) , axillary lymphadenopathy , breast augmentation , biopsy , surgery , implant , breast implant , radiology , lymph node , breast cancer , pathology , paleontology , cancer , biology
A 25-year-old Caucasian flight attendant with an extensive travel history presented with night sweats, fevers, weight loss and axillary and supraclavicular lymphadenopathy. Apart from surgical breast augmentation, she had no past medical or surgical history. She was anaemic, leucopenic and lymphopenic, and a broad infection screen was negative. Cross-sectional imaging revealed ipsilateral silicone breast implant rupture, with leaking of implant contents into the surrounding tissue. Histological examination of an axillary lymph node core biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of silicone lymphadenopathy. This case illustrates the broad differential for acute painful lymphadenopathy in the context of global travel, and the use of targeted infection testing, early cross-sectional imaging and biopsy to arrive at an unexpected diagnosis.