A surgeon describes a 2016 cancer-reconstruction patient whose breast implant grew E. coli, detected through pathology of the capsule tissue. The patient recovered with antibiotics after implant removal.
2016
E. Coli
10^6 (one million) or over 100,000 per high-power field (quoted by speaker)
The implant capsule (capsular material)
Wow. So in 2016, I took care of a cancer patient who just wanted to go flat. And for everybody listening, I appreciate you having me on to explain this to your audience. There's options in breast reconstruction. You can have no reconstruction and have an aesthetic flat closure, which is one of the options. And so this patient wanted to go flat, so they had an implant. And for everybody listening, I was trained specifically in cancer reconstruction. And when we took down a reconstruction, we'd always take take all the capsular material out. That's what your body forms around an implant. So that scar capsule would always get sent to pathology so they make sure the patient didn't have recurrent cancer. We also checked to make sure there was no infection because there was an implant there. And so when I did that for this patient, all of the testing came back negative for cancer, which is obviously paramount, but she had a E. Coli infection. Wow. So first, everybody listening to E. Coli infection. You've heard of all the food poisoning that can happen with E. Coli. This was in and around her breast implant. And this was enough bacteria to truly be called an infection based on the hospital criteria, which is 10 to the 6 or over 100,000 per high power field. So that's very, very bad. So I treated her appropriately based on what was found, with antibiotics, and magically, she got better. All of her fatigue went away. So she just had been wandering around with an infant implant infection for an undetermined amount of time.
