WingNews logo WingNews
top | item 40242108

(no title)

riahi | 1 year ago

Talc is used medically as a treatment for recurrent pleural effusions. It is introduced into the pleural space and triggers an intensely inflammatory reaction which more or less fuses the pleura together to prevent the accumulation of fluid (pleurodesis).

When a patient who has had a pleurodesis gets an FDG PETCT, they will have intense accumulation of radiotracer for years. It is very inflammatory. Even more so than asbestos.

I wouldn’t want talc anywhere inside my reproductive tract or anywhere inside my body if I could avoid it.

If you buy the chronic inflammation leads to cancer hypothesis, talc leading to cancer is not so far fetched.

discuss

order

refurb|1 year ago

> It is very inflammatory.

Location matters. The immune system reacts differently to foreign bodies depending on what tissue is in contact with it.

Damn near anything you add to the plural space is going to send your immune system into overdrive - the cells that line the plural cavity (mesothelial cells) are programmed to respond a certain way to their environment.

Contrast that with the cell that line your respiratory tract. There are cells that produce mucus, cells with cilia that sweep the mucus away from the lungs. They don't respond with a massive inflammatory reaction to foreign substances like the plural space does (at least not in a healthy human - asthma patients are different).

Same with the reproductive tract, especially the female one. We can insert IUDs into the uterine cavity without a massive inflammatory response.