Silicone loss during histological preparation of breast implant tissue
from capsular contracture, quantified by Stimulated Raman Scattering
microscopy
Abstract
Breast augmentations, commonly performed for aesthetic or medical
reasons, often use silicone (PDMS) implants. Some patients develop
complications like capsular contracture, where scar tissue forms around
the implant. Previously, we used stimulated Raman scattering (SRS)
microscopy to detect and quantify silicone in stained capsule tissue,
finding a correlation between silicone amount and contracture severity.
However, we suspected silicone loss during histological preparation,
which includes multiple steps like formalin fixation and paraffin
embedding. In this study, we assessed silicone loss by comparing
adjacent tissue samples from the same capsule: one prepared
conventionally and the other snap-frozen. SRS microscopy revealed that
snap-frozen samples had roughly five times more silicone, indicating
significant silicone loss during conventional preparation. Thus,
measuring silicone in histologically prepared samples likely
underestimates PDMS content.