Perineal Talc Research Articles

The relationship between perineal cosmetic talc usage and ovarian talc particle burden

OBJECTIVE: Epidemiologic studies support the hypothesis of a dose-related risk of epithelial ovarian cancer with perineal talc exposure. Frequency and duration of talc usage has not been previously correlated with ovarian talc content. STUDY DESIGN: Ovaries were studied from 24 women undergoing incidental oophorectomy who were interviewed regarding talc usage. Twelve subjects reported frequent perineal talc applications; the twelve controls reported no use. Ovarian tissue blocks were digested and analyzed by polarized light microscopy and analytic electron microscopy to identify and quantify talc. RESULTS: Talc was identified in all 24 cases by either light or electron microscopy. Talc particle counts were completely unrelated to reported levels of perineal talc exposure. CONCLUSIONS: The detection of talc in all ovaries demonstrates that it can reach the upper genital tract. Widespread exposure to talc during diapering may contribute to the ubiquitous presence of talc in ovarian tissue. (A M J O BSTET G YNECOL 1996;174:1507-10.)

A Review of Perineal Talc Exposure and Risk of Ovarian Cancer

The authors provide a detailed review of the events that led to the interest in talc as a possible ovarian carcinogen, the epidemiological studies published to date, and their perspective on the interpretation of the findings including potential limitations, biases, and issues surrounding the plausibility of a causal association. The authors conclude that the range of relative risk estimates from epidemiology, 1.0 to 1.8, is plausible, but that additional epidemiologic studies, especially prospective investigations are needed, In addition, clinicopathological studies are needed to confirm or deny the reports of talc embedded in human ovarian tissue and reports of talc migration through the human female reproductive tract.

Hair dyes, analgesics, tranquilizers and perineal talc application as risk factors for ovarian cancer

In a hospital-based case-control study of ovarian cancer conducted in Athens (1989-1991), 189 women with histologically confirmed common malignant epithelial tumors of the ovary were compared with 200 hospital visitor controls. All interviews were conducted by personal interview in the 2 participating hospitals and the data were analyzed by modelling through logistic regression, controlling for demographic and reproductive variables. Tranquilizing and hypnotic drugs (mostly diazepam) were not associated with risk of ovarian cancer: the adjusted relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were 0.96 (0.57 to 1.63), whereas use of analgesics (mostly salicylates) was associated with significantly reduced risk of the disease (RR 0.51; CI 0.26 to 1.02). There was no evidence that perineal application of talc was associated with increased risk (RR 1.05; CI 0.28 to 3.98) but the frequency of reporting talc use was low in the study population. There was a statistically significant (p for trend 0.007) and a dose-dependent association between hair dyeing and risk of ovarian cancer. Compared to never-users, women dyeing their hair up to 4 times per year had a relative risk of 1.74 (0.91 to 3.32) whereas those dyeing their hair 5 or more times per year had a relative risk of 2.16 (1.19 to 3.89).