LIGHT AND ELECTRON-MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF AN INVASIVE CRIBRIFORM CARCINOMA WITH EXTENSIVE MICROCALCIFICATION DEVELOPING IN A BREAST WITH SILICONE AUGMENTATION

Although recent epidemiologic studies suggest that silicone augmentati on of the breast is not associated with an increased risk of mammary c arcinoma, cases of breast carcinoma arising in augmented breasts are b eing increasingly encountered as a large number of patients who had au gmentation are getting older. A case of a 51-year-old woman with a 20- year history of breast augmentation who developed an invasive cribrifo rm carcinoma associated with extensive microcalcification is presented . The patient had sub-mammary silicone implants 20 years ago that were replaced, because of local complications, in subpectoral positions 10 years later. Dispersive X-ray microanalysis failed to demonstrate sil icone in sections of the tumor and adjacent breast tissue. Appropriate ly fixed tumor tissue was available for electron microscopic examinati on. The tumor cells were rich in mitochondria, and their luminal surfa ces were endowed with abundant microvilli, but cell surfaces that came closest to the calcified microspheriols. It is suggested that tumor c ells might have been actively involved in the process of microcalcific ation.