CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF POSITIVE BREAST PERIPROSTHETIC CULTURES WITHOUTOVERT INFECTION

The true incidence of positive breast periprosthetic cultures in the a bsence of overt infection is not clearly established. We retrospective ly reviewed data fr om 389 implants that were removed for reasons othe r than clinical infection. Many of these patients presented with a var iety of musculoskeletal ailments. Others had symptomatic capsular cont racture as the presenting complaint In a few a known implant rupture w as the reason for explantation. We identified a positive culture rate of 23.5 percent from capsule tissue. Most of these organisms were coag ulase-negative staphylococci and anaerobic diphtheroids, but fungi and other organisms (generally felt to be more pathogenic than the less v irulent coagulase-negative staphylococci) also were cultured. In an at tempt to identify the clinical relevance of these positive cultures, w e statistically evaluated the culture results for associations with ca psular contracture, implant rupture, type of implant, and location of implant. Of these, the only statistically significant correlation was between positive culture result and symptomatic capsular contracture ( Baker class IV).