Side effects in breast implants related to radiotherapy in breast cancer reconstructive surgery

Abstract

Breast reconstructive surgery with silicone implants is routinely one of the techniques performed imme diately after a mastectomy and before adjuvant radiotherapy. Implant shell degradation may result in gel bleeding that can trigger capsular disease. The silicone corpuscle in contact with the implant fibrous cap sule can promote an inflammatory reaction, identified as silicone-induced granuloma which is, related to clinical complaints referred to as breast implant illness. This short communication aims to demonstrate and discuss the impact of radiotherapy’s side effects on patients with post-mastectomy reconstructive breast surgery with silicone implants followed by adju vant radiation therapy.