Scleroderma-like syndrome in a woman with silicone breast implants – case report and critical review of the literature

Various silicon compounds have been reported to stimulate autoimmune reactions in the human body. Based on case reports, a possible causal association between silicone breast implants and systemic sclerosis has been suggested since the end of the 1970s. Although the relationship between systemic sclerosis and silicone breast implants has been intensely investigated, no clear evidence of such an association has ever been found in epidemiological studies. Instead, it is now proposed that silicone breast implants can induce nonspecific symptoms of inflammatory diseases, despite not fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for a specific autoimmune disease. This phenomenon was named autoimmune syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA syndrome). ASIA syndrome is worth considering in the differential diagnosis in rheumatology patients. In this paper, we present a case of the scleroderma-like syndrome in a 48-year-old woman with a broken silicone breast implant and a review the current literature on this issue.