FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOLOGY OF SILICONE GRANULOMAS IN THE AUGMENTED BREAST

We studied 12 aspirates from 10 patients who underwent diagnostic fine -needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of an augmented or reconstructed br east. Six patients were augmented with silicone gel-filled implants an d four patients had silicone liquid injections. FNAC indications inclu ded a painful or suspicious mass. Excisional biopsy was performed in s ix cases after FNAC. The findings of eight cases included modestly cel lular smears composed of loosely cohesive histiocytes containing vacuo les of various sizes. Multinucleated foreign body giant cells, fragmen ts of dense, amorphous fibrous tissue, and fibroblast nuclei stripped of cytoplasm were also present. Two patients showed a mixture of infla mmatory cells characteristic of intramammary lymph nodes or lymphoid a ggregates. We conclude that silicone granulomas of the breast show a c haracteristic set of findings on FNAC which enable a cytopathologist t o render a specific diagnosis given an appropriate history of breast a ugmentation. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.