LAUSR

Rupture of silicone breast implants is usually iatrogenic or due to trauma.2 A patient with breast implants who has sustained blunt chest injury can present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Intrathoracic migration of breast implants is a documented complication of augmentation mammoplasty.3 The prosthesis may migrate intact into the pleural cavity, usually through a defect in the chest wall caused by previous surgery.3,4 Rupture of the prosthesis also may occur without any immediate sign. Over time, the patient may notice a change in the size or shape of the breast.2 In our patient, the implant ruptured at the time of the automobile accident. Once the implant envelope had been violated, the silicone gel escaped into the local tissues, and it probably was squeezed into the pleural space at the site of entry of the pleural drain placed at the time of thoracic trauma, favored by the negative pressure of the pleural cavity.