Fracture of a breast tissue expander

摘要

A silicone breast tissue expander failed suddenly after several infusions of saline solution, causing great distress to the patient. The device had fractured at the junction between the bag and the feed catheter. Examination of the dome attached to the catheter into which the saline is fed showed the number of infusions. The fracture surface when examined using ESEM showed a smooth crack path caused by growth of a single crack. The origin lay at the shoulder of the catheter where it met the bag, and numerous microcracks were found at all parts of the junction. Their presence suggested failure of the adhesive used to join the two parts, with slow crack growth under progressively increasing load leading to catastrophic rupture. Especial care is needed in the design of silicone implants to allow for all possible loading patterns.