Failure of 29Si NMR to detect increased blood silicon levels in silicone gel breast implant recipients.

We have compared directly the results of atomic absorption (AA) spectroscopy and a 29Si magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique reported in the literature by Garrido et al. (Garrido, L.; et al. Magn. Reson. Med. 1994, 31, 328-330) for analyzing blood silicon levels in control patients versus patients with silicone gel breast implants. AA spectroscopy yielded blood silicon levels in the nanogram per milliliter range for control patients, while somewhat higher values were found in patients with implants. The 29Si MAS NMR technique applied to the identical blood samples was unable to detect silicon in any of the samples. Sensitivity calculations demonstrate that 29Si MAS NMR should not be expected to detect silicon at the levels determined by AA spectroscopy under the spectroscopic conditions employed and that the concentration of silicon-containing compounds would need to 10(4) times the level detected by AA in order to be detected by this NMR method.