Determination of low molecular weight silicones in plasma and blood of women after exposure to silicone breast implants by GC/MS

A sensitive, one-step sample preparation method for detection of volatile, low molecular weight (LMW) cyclic silicones hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane (D3) , octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane (D4), decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5), an d dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (D6) in plasma and blood using gas chromato graphy coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS, SIM mode) is presented. In sp iked experiments, extraction efficiencies for these siloxanes (100-20 000 n g/mL) were approximately 90% for plasma and approximately 80% for blood; on ly in the case of D3 was the recovery very low. Plasma and blood of women w ho are or were exposed to silicone gel-filled implants and of control subje cts were analyzed for low molecular weight silicones. D3-D6 were not detect able in control plasma or blood. Although the investigated numbers of patie nts samples are very limited, and thus, no statistical analysis is possible , our data clearly show a general increase in the amount of LMW cyclic silo xanes in the bodies of women with silicone implants. In particular, several years after ruptured silicone implants were removed, siloxanes could still be found in blood samples from several women. Siloxane compound D3 varied between 6 and 12 ng/mL (plasma) and between 20 and 28 ng/mL (blood), wherea s the concentration range of D4 was 14-59 ng/mL (plasma) and 79-92 ng/mL (b lood). D5 and DG,with one exception, could not be detected.