title: Chemical and physicochemical properties of the high cohesive silicone gel from Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) breast prostheses after explantation: a preliminary, comparative analytical investigation.
abstract: Aim of this work was to gain a deeper insight into the analytical profile of the macromolecular and LMW fractions of polymeric silicones present in breast implants. The study was conducted on silicone gel samples from (i) breast prostheses (Poly Implant Prothèse, PIP) explanted from a patient that needed their therapeutical removal, (ii) from a virgin Mc Ghan 410 MX prosthesis and (iii) from a sample of technical-grade non-cohesive silicone. The gels were analysed using rheological techniques, attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H NMR), gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and flow injection electrospray mass spectrometry (FI-ESI-MS). Our results demonstrate that, compared to the virgin McGhan gel, the silicone present the PIP prostheses lacks a significant part of the cross-linking sites necessary for the high-cohesive properties of the gel, significant amounts of cholesterol have been absorbed from the breast tissue by the silicone material, demonstrating the lack of impermeability of its elastomer shell. The potential implications and consequences of these analytical results are discussed.
authors: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Milan, Via Mangiagalli 25, 20133 Milan, Italy. giangiacomo.beretta@unimi.it
authors: Giangiacomo
authors: G
authors: Beretta
authors: Matteo
authors: M
authors: Malacco
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D005782:Gels; D006801:Humans; D016462:Mammaplasty; D008875:Middle Aged; D012828:Silicones / Q000737:chemistry*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D005782:Gels; D012828:Silicones