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Published on: June 11, 2014
Histologic, Molecular, and Clinical Evaluation of Explanted Breast Prostheses, Capsules, and Acellular Dermal
Louis Poppler1, Justin Cohen1, Utku Can Dolen1
1Drs Poppler and Dr Cohen are Residents, Dr Dolen is a Breast Fellow, Dr Tenenbaum is Residency Program Director and Assistant Professor, and Dr Myckatyn is Breast Fellowship Director and Associate Professor, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO. Mr. Schriefer is a Physicist, Genome Technology Access Center, Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO. Dr Deeken is Director of Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials Laboratory, Department of Surgery, Section of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO. and Dr Chole is Lindburg Professor and Chairman, Department of Otolaryngology, and Director of the Biofilm Core Facility, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO.
Background:
Subclinical infections, manifest as biofilms, are considered an important cause of capsular contracture. Acellular dermal matrices (ADMs) are frequently used in revision surgery to prevent recurrent capsular contractures.
Objective:
We sought to identify an association between capsular contracture and biofilm formation on breast prostheses, capsules, and ADMs in a tissue expander/implant (TE/I) exchange clinical paradigm.
Methods:
Biopsies of the prosthesis, capsule, and ADM from patients (N = 26) undergoing TE/I exchange for permanent breast implant were evaluated for subclinical infection. Capsular contracture was quantified with Baker Grade and intramammary pressure. Biofilm formation was evaluated with specialized cultures, rtPCR, bacterial taxonomy, live:dead staining, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Collagen distribution, capsular histology, and ADM remodeling were quantified following fluorescent and light microscopy.
Results:
Prosthetic devices were implanted from 91 to 1115 days. Intramammary pressure increased with Baker Grade. Of 26 patients evaluated, one patient had a positive culture and one patient demonstrated convincing evidence of biofilm morphology on SEM. Following PCR amplification 5 samples randomly selected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing demonstrated an abundance of suborder Micrococcineae, consistent with contamination.
Conclusions:
Our data suggest that bacterial biofilms likely contribute to a proportion, but not all diagnosed capsular contractures. Biofilm formation does not appear to differ significantly between ADMs or capsules. While capsular contracture remains an incompletely understood but common problem in breast implant surgery, advances in imaging, diagnostic, and molecular techniques can now provide more sophisticated insights into the pathophysiology of capsular contracture.
Level Of Evidence:
4 Therapeutic.
