Case of the month - April 2007 - discussion

Diagnosis - Lipoid foreign body giant cell reaction in lymph node related to a long standing breast implant

• This foreign body giant cell reaction is typical of that seen associated with a site draining a breast implant



• Note the abundant lipoid material in cytoplasmic vacuoles



• Note also the small amount of refractile material within these vacuoles that does not polarise



• The most common material used in breast implants is silicone



• Until about 5 years ago triglyceride material was used in some implants but the use of these has now been discontinued and the majority removed