Prosthetic mammoplasty sensitivity syndrome: a case for causation

Treatment of patients experiencing adverse health effects following prosthetic mammoplasty has suffered from a lack of an acknowledgment of a causal relationship to their breast prosthetic devices. Case reports and case series showing an association between adverse health effects and breast implants have been routinely dismissed as anecdotal, and epidemiological studies have been considered necessary to prove causality. We show that epidemiological research is not necessary for establishing a causal relationship, and one properly documented case can be, in fact, all that is needed to show causation. Presently in the peer-reviewed literature there exists a substantial scientifically sound body of data showing an association between breast implants and adverse health effects. Ample evidence has shown that exposure to the five common types of breast implants outlined, i.e., silicone gel filled, saline filled, double lumen, polyurethane coated, and cohesive silicone, has caused adverse health effects in humans. Prosthetic mammoplasty sensitivity syndrome (PMSS) is the proposed term to describe the disease processes documented in the literature that has a causal relationship to breast implants.