formalin = cancer?????

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Dr. McDreamy

Dr. McDreamy

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So in a conversation in the path lab, someone mentioned that pathologists are more likely to get cancer because of all the formalin exposure. I was a bit incredulous and so I did a pubmed search and it turns out that yes indeed, formaldehyde exposure does predispose one to nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Anyone ever heard of pathologists having a higher incidence of cancer? Anyone ever worried about all this exposure? It's something that never occurred to me!
 
DarksideAllstar said:
Nope. Probably doing hemepath anyway. What was the relative risk in that study?
Click to expand...

It most likely doesn't even have an identifiable relative risk.. because the exposure is not high enough to cause the increased risk...

I have always found it amusing that formalin we use to persevere tissue (so we can study cancer), is carcinogenic.
Which seems counter intuitive untill you realize that we use it to preserve tissue.. it is pretty clear it does things to tissue, so you don't want that done to tissue still attached to you...

Lastly it is Formaldehyde that is a carcinogen...
The formalin you use in the lab is only 4% Formaldehyde (yes the 10% buffered is really only 4% Fromaldehyde)..
 
I've been told xylene is implicated in the development of brain tumors (meningiomas)...let those slides "air out" first...
 
Yeah I never really understood the use of xylene in the frozen section room. There are non-toxic options that work just fine.
 
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