Contralateral internal mammary silicone lymphadenopathy imitates breast cancer metastasis

Abstract

This case report presents a unique, late complication of breast reconstruction surgery. A woman, who underwent left mastectomy and several reconstruction procedures with silicone implants presented with symptomatic enlarged internal mammary lymph nodes on her contralateral side. The nodes, which were suspicious for breast cancer metastasis on positron-emission tomographic computed tomography, were removed by thoracoscopy. The histopathologic result revealed silicone adenopathy. This report is particularly interesting because it presents a rare case in which silicone has migrated to the contralateral internal mammary nodes. This complication was not previously documented in the medical literature and serves as a possible differential diagnosis to metastatic breast cancer.