Sigurveig Þ. Sigurðardóttir^1,2

Hannes Sigurjónsson^3,4

Andri Már Þórarinsson⁴

Kristján Erlendsson^1,5

¹Department of Immunology, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, ²University of Iceland, Faculty of Medicine, ³Reykjavík Plastic Surgery Clinic, ⁴Department of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery, Landspítali National University Hospital, ⁵Department of Internal Medicine, Landspitali University Hospital

Correspondence: Sigurveig Þ. Sigurðardóttir, veiga@landspitali.is

Key words: silicon, breast implant, ASIA syndrome, autoinflammatory, autoimmunity.

For decades, breast implants have been available for breast reconstructions and breast augmentations to improve the patients' health-related quality of life. Silicone implants (SI) have been used since the middle of the last century for breast reconstruction, for example after breast cancer, for birth defects, gender confirmation procedures, or for breast augmentation. Every year, several hundred SI are performed in Iceland for these purposes, but no central register is maintained. It can be estimated that at least 1000 - 3000 women have SI in Iceland and that around 300 Icelandic patients get SI every year.

This informal review article discusses the so-called ASIA syndrome, the immunological effects of silicone and the possible relationship of SI to autoimmune diseases, symptoms, and diagnosis.

In the methodology, this paper does not rely on the strict conditions of systematic reviews, but the authors relied only on peer-reviewed sources through PubMed, UpToDate and Scopus.

The keywords used are silicon, silicon implant, silicon particles, immune response, autoimmunity, autoinflammation, Autoimmune/inflammatory syndrome induced by aduvants, ASIA, ASIA syndrome, breast implant illness.

The paper reviews known facts about the disease, its characteristics, and statistical aspects.