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.