As we know, plastics are present everywhere in our environment (including at the highest peaks of our mountains) and as they degrade, they contaminate the air, soil and water with microscopic particles that end up in our food and our drinking water.
A year ago, a study demonstrated for the first time that these microparticles also entered our body and were present in human blood. This time it is in the hearts of some of their patients that cardiac surgeons discovered microplastics.
9 different types of microplastics found in the heart
“Microplastics had previously been detected in human stool, lungs and placentas, which are directly exposed to the external environment through various body cavities. We lacked data on whether completely closed human organs can also be exposed to microplastics” emphasize researchers from the Beijing Anzhen Hospital (China).
Surgeons at the hospital collected heart tissue and blood samples from 15 patients who underwent surgery. “Microplastics were not universally present in all tissue samples, but 9 types were found in five tissue types, with the largest measuring 469 μm in diameter,” they explain. These microplastics were also detected in blood samples collected before and after surgery (so that this presence cannot be attributed to accidental exposure during surgery).
Further research is now needed to determine the potential effects on human health of the presence of microplastics in internal organs.
Source : Detection of Various Microplastics in Patients Undergoing Cardiac SurgeryEnvironmental science technology, July 2023