[Interstitial pneumonia associated with human adjuvant disease which developed 30 years after silicone augmentation...

A 51-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with exertional dyspnea, swelling and stiffness in her fingers. Raynaud's phenomenon and mammary and axillary lymphadenopathy. She had received silicone augmentation mammoplasty 30 years ago, and had since noticed bilateral mammary and axillary lymphadenopathy that was stable in size. In the 2 years before admittance she had become aware of an exacerbation of the lymphadenopathy had begun to experience and exertional dyspnea several months before admission suggesting a connective tissue disease. Physical examination revealed symmetrical weakness of the proximal limb muscles and fine crackles in the base of both lungs. Elevated myogenic enzymes, inflammatory reactions, and positive anti-SSA antibody were noted. Based upon these findings, muscle and lip biopsy results, myogenic EMG, and an apple tree appearance on sialography, a differential diagnosis of polymypositis or sjögren's syndrome was made. Axillary lymph node biopsy findings were consistent with silicone lymphadenitis. In addition, chest roentgenogram and HRCT (which revealed decreased lung volumes and interstitial opacities with no honeycombing, present predominatly in the subpleural space), pulmonary function tests (decreased VC and DLco), bronchoalveolar lavage (elevated total cell count and neutrophil and eosinophil fractions), and transbronchial lung biopsy specimens (unevently distributed alveolitis with fibrosis) indicated concurrent interstitial pneumonia. The clinical correlation between exacerbation of silicone lymphadenopathy and the development of connective tissue disease with accompanying interstitial pneumonia strongly suggested human adjuvant disease (HAD) as the pathogenesis. To our knowledge, interstitial pneumonia associated with HAD is rare.