―Reports on Experiments and Clinical Cases― Fibroin allergy IgE mediated hypersensitivity to silk suture materials

Delayed‑type hypersensitivity with granulomatous lesions to silk sutures is rather rare. Yet braided silk sutures often act as a non‑immunologic foreign‑body and cause a granulomatous in‑ flammatory reaction years after surgery. We report here a case of recurrent granulomas with remarkable infiltration of eosinophils that may have resulted from an IgE‑mediated hypersensitivity reaction to silk fibroin a component of the braided silk suture. Under normal circumstances exposure to fibroin is rather rare. There‑ fore the present patient may have developed this reaction to the silk sutures used in a previous surgery.（J Nippon Med Sch 1999；66：41―44）