The Effect of Explantation on Systemic Disease Symptoms and Quality of Life in Patients with Breast Implant Illness: A Prospective Cohort Study
A prospective study that measured systemic symptoms and quality of life in the same patients before and after implant removal.
View original source ↗What this source says
In 109 patients, an ASIA-scale symptom score fell significantly after explantation and quality-of-life measures improved — while the authors were careful to note what the study design can and cannot conclude.
Why it matters
It is a before/after look at real patients — the kind of study most relevant to the explant decision — and it reports its own limits honestly.
Key findings
- In 109 patients, an ASIA-scale symptom score fell from 49.5 before to 31.6 after explantation (p<0.001).
- Quality-of-life (SF-36) subdomains improved.
- No specific surgical factor (e.g., rupture, type of capsulectomy) predicted who recovered.
- Symptoms were reduced but not eliminated — residual scores remained.
Limitations
There was no control group; participants were referred specifically for BII (sampling bias); improvement overlaps with possible placebo and psychological factors.
What this does not prove
Without a control group, improvement after explantation cannot prove that implants caused the symptoms or that the surgery caused the improvement.
Source / citation
Bird & Niessen · Scientific Reports · 2022
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9726875/
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41598-022-25300-4
Last reviewed against the original source: 2026-09-02. Summaries are written in plain language; the original source is authoritative.
Breast Implant Illness Tracker provides education and organizational tools only and does not provide medical diagnosis or treatment.