NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN SILICONE BREAST-IMPLANT COMPLAINANTS -BRAIN-DAMAGE, SOMATIZATION, OR COMPENSATION NEUROSES

Seven consecutive cases of women claiming a variety of ailments and di sabilities which they related to their breast implants are presented. None of the patients had any objective medical findings documenting th ese impairments. Four of the 7 patients performed poorly on neuropsych ological tests. All 4 of these were felt to be motivated to perform po orly on forced choice measures of cooperation. The remaining 3 patient s performed within normal Limits on the neuropsychological tests. All 7 patients scored above critical limits on at least two MMPI-2 clinica l scales. One patient was depressed and the rest presented as overly h ypochondriacal and hysterical. These data indicate that the rates of p sychiatric disorder, symptom magnification, somatization, and/or malin gering may be quite high in breast-implant complainants.