Detection of breast implant rupture with aspiration cytology.

A new method for diagnosis of ruptured silicone gel-filled implants was developed. The method uses a recently described technique for insertion of a catheter into an implant capsule. This allows irrigation with saline and recovery of cells for cytopathologic diagnosis. Cytopathologic diagnosis was both sensitive (94 percent) and specific (95 percent) in the detection of intracellular foreign material accompanying ruptured implants. The intracellular material has been positively identified as silicone. This laboratory study included 42 samples obtained at three time intervals on 5 rabbits, each of which had one "ruptured" and one intact implant for a total of 10 implants.