Robert Whitfield MD used PCR testing on tissue from women with suspected breast implant illness and found bacterial DNA in about one-third of over 600 samples, mostly Cutibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus epidermidis. He interprets these as biofilm-forming contaminants that may trigger immune responses linked to the illness.
So here is the paper. And I get asked frequently, why do I think breast implant illness and explant surgery pose such a significant health concern to women? And this is why we evaluated through PCR testing. So everybody remembers from the pandemic, the antigen test versus the PCR test. PCR tests look at DNA fragments. And what we did is we transitioned from routine testing to PCR testing in 2019. All of our samples after February 2019 were tested through PCR analysis using the next gen sequencing from MicroGen DX in Lubbock, Texas. And what that reveals is all of these different. Now bacteria, Mycobacterium and fungus can be evaluated more effectively because the smallest amount can be detected through a DNA fragment analysis. Here. This graph shows the example of what we found most frequently, which is Cutibacterium acnis. You can see it right here. And then also Staphylococcus epidermidis. That will become extremely important in future papers that we discuss now as we move through the results, into the discussion. The results show, as I really have discussed in the past, in this series of samples of over 600, there's about a 29% rate of finding this bacterial contaminant. And then when I discuss with patients all the time, I keep it very simple. And the results obviously will vary over time with the number of samples that we collect. So I always say about a third of the cases I will find typically a bacterial contaminant. Typically in our experience, which is more of a nationwide experience, as well as accepting patients from Europe and Asia, that those will typically show Cudibacterium acnes. But you also see that Staph epidermidis is right there. Now why are these two so important? They both readily produce biofilm. So the bacteria aggregate or come together and form communities which create this protective layer, the biofilm. This can interact with your tissues. And so it's the interaction with these tissues that I've always considered to be the most important because it's like having a prodromal phase or a low grade infection. And that can basically stimulate your immune system and keep it turned on. So why is that important? So I think there would be very little difficulty in understanding breast implant illness. If everybody showed up and had a red swollen breast, they would say, oh my gosh, that's infected.
