Silver wire implant of 40 years' duration: influence on local tissues

The retention of an implanted silver wire in human tissue 40 years after surgical fixation of the frontal bone was studied post mortem by histology, transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray analysis. Corrosion products of the wire were associated with a chronic inflammatory response and were bound to certain connective tissue elements; they were deposited as discrete particles, comprising silver in association with sulphur, on collagen fibrils and vascular basement membranes. Bone structure appeared normal except close to the wire, where it was replaced by a loose connective tissue in which collagen bundles were disorganized.