Women with silicone breast implants and autoimmune inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants: description of three patients and a critical review of the literature

Silicone has been widely used in the manufacture of medical implants. It is well tolerated in most cases. However, in this paper we report the cases of three women who developed autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA syndrome), namely with silicone breast implants. The symptoms in these cases include arthralgia, arthritis, myalgia, sleep disturbances, the appearance of autoantibodies, miscarriage, Raynaud’s phenomenon, and involvement of autoimmune diseases (scleroderma and undifferentiated connective tissue diseases). In one patient, breast implants were removed, but no improvement was seen after the removal. The remaining two patients received the updated information about their condition, and they decided not to remove the implants. In conclusion, earlier reports that silicone is biologically relatively inert have recently been challenged with the description of ASIA syndrome.