title: Should silicone prostheses be considered for specimen banking? A pilot study into their use for human biomonitoring.
abstract: Persistent organic pollutant (POP) biomonitoring in humans is challenging and generally carried out using blood, breast milk or adipose tissue, with concentrations normalised to the lipid content of the sample matrix. The goal of this cross-sectional pilot study was to evaluate the validity and feasibility of explanted silicone prostheses as a matrix for persistent organic pollutant biomonitoring in humans. We postulate that pollutant concentrations in silicone prostheses inserted in the body will equilibrate with that in the body over time and provide a measure of the overall body burden. This study included silicone prostheses from 22 female patients of the Colosseum clinic (Oslo, Norway) collected between September 2010 and April 2012. Absorption of chlorinated and brominated POPs into silicone prostheses during implantation was observed. Relative levels of the different contaminants measured in prostheses were in agreement with those from serum and breast milk analyses from the general Norwegian population. The comparison of serum and breast milk-based literature data with prosthesis concentrations transposed into lipid-normalised concentrations supports the validity of the prosthesis measurements. The median of relative percent differences between measurements with replicate silicone prostheses from 11 patients was below 30%. Observed increases in prosthesis concentrations with patients' age were found to be very similar to literature data from studies of the Norwegian population. Silicone prostheses therefore represent a promising matrix for the biomonitoring of nonpolar and non-ionic pollutants in humans. Sample accessibility and body burden representativeness of the silicone prostheses suggest that specimen banking should be initiated.
authors: Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Gaustadalléen 21, Oslo Centre for Interdisciplinary Environmental and Social Research, Oslo NO-0349, Norway. ian.allan@niva.no
authors: Ian J
authors: IJ
authors: Allan
authors: Kine
authors: K
authors: Bæk
authors: Alfhild
authors: A
authors: Kringstad
authors: Helge E
authors: HE
authors: Roald
authors: Kevin V
authors: KV
authors: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001822:Body Burden; D018427:Breast Implants; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal; D008875:Middle Aged; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry; D009664:Norway; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012828:Silicones / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal; D012828:Silicones
keywords: Human biomonitoring; Implant; Passive sampling; Persistent organic pollutants; Silicone prosthesis