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806 PART III Small Parts, Carotid Artery, and Peripheral Vessel Sonography

A B C

D

E

FIG. 21.70 Silicone Granulomas: Typical “Snowstorm” Appearance of Extracapsular Rupture. Silicone granulomas that manifest the

snowstorm sign are hyperechoic and have a well-circumscribed supericial border and a posterior border obscured by “dirty” incoherent shadowing.

(A) Silicone granulomas can occur anterior to the implant. (B) However, most occur along the edges of the implant, where the shell is thinner.

(C) Silicone granulomas can spread over the surface of the implant in a thin sheet rather than forming a discrete mass. (D) Silicone granulomas

can migrate away from the edge of the implant to lie on the chest or abdominal wall or in the axilla. (E) Extravasated silicone can be carried by

lymphatics to regional lymph nodes, where it ills the lymph nodes with hyperechoic gel, giving a snowstorm appearance, from the medulla outward,

as with this Rotter node that lies between the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles.

A LT 2 AR 3B palpable B C

FIG. 21.71 Silicone Granulomas: Less Common Appearances of Extracapsular Rupture. (A) Large collections of acutely extravasated silicone

gel can have a complex cystic appearance (calipers). (B) Silicone granulomas of a few weeks to a few months’ duration can appear to be isoechoic

solid nodules. These usually progress to the snowstorm appearance within months. (C) Silicone granulomas that are many years old can develop

so much foreign body reaction that they become intensely shadowing masses that simulate malignancy. Note also that, although most silicone

granulomas result from extracapsular rupture, they can form between the capsule and the shell in certain patients, as in image (B).

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