Study of Infections in Breast Augmentation Surgery with Implants in 9,691 Patients over 5 Years

BACKGROUND: This study presents a review of a single retrospective cohort of patients who underwent surgery for breast augmentation with implants, during a period of 5 years, aged 17–60 years (mean 32 years), in a single institution, IQ Interquirofanos, a private clinic in the city of Medellín, Colombia. METHOD: A single retrospective cohort study was carried out, in which the database of patients who underwent breast augmentation with implants during 5 years was analyzed. RESULTS: In this period of time, 9,691 female patients and a total of 19,382 breast implants implanted by 66 plastic surgeons underwent breast augmentation surgery. All the breast prostheses used were round, made of silicone gel in all cases and textured in most of them. 37 patients presented infection at the surgical site, 33 were unilateral and four bilateral, with an incidence of 0.38% per patient. The form of presentation was cellulitis in 46% of the cases, followed by seroma and hematoma in 25%. It was found that there is no difference in the incidence of infection between patients with breast augmentation for the first time and implant replacement due to different causes (OR 1.25, 95% CI 0.66–2.3, P = 0.49). One of the surgeons was associated with 37.8% of the infections and was found to be an asymptomatic carrier of Staphylococcus aureus, requiring medical treatment. The relationship of the infection with the treating surgeons was also analyzed and it was found that there is an association between these two variables. The infection appeared in the first 2 weeks after surgery in 92.7% of the cases. The main isolated germ was Staphylococcus aureus, followed by Pseudomona aeruginosa, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Serratia marcescens, Candida parapsilosis, Enterobacter cloacae, and a patient with Mycobacterium fortuitum in both breasts. Of the 37 patients with infection, six breast implants were required to be explanted in five patients, who were repositioned 3–6 months later without complications. CONCLUSIONS: Incidence of infection in augmentation mammoplasty with implants was 0.38% in patients infected in one or both breasts, during 5 years. There is a relationship between the presence of breast infection and the surgeon who performed the intervention. The most frequent germs found in breast implant infections continue to be Staphylococcus aureus followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.