[MrBuddyCasino]

Here is something: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/41211...

Apparently the surgery was unrelated, they found lots of carbon brake dust in his lungs purely by chance. No conclusion on whether it is dangerous or not.

Edit: grahamel was quicker :)

[exDM69]

I recall him telling (in a Finnish commentary for a F1 race broadcast) that he went to another surgery to examine the carbon fiber dust in his lungs. But this was almost 10 years ago, I can't remember the specifics.

[nodata]

Can you wash the carbon fiber dust out of the lungs?

[lifeisstillgood]

Washing air-breathing lungs with water sounds problematic, although with fluro-carbons and the prevalence of lung cancer I am not going to say no-one hasn't tried !

[ars]

You could wash one lung at a time. Or use extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Water in an of itself won't hurt lungs as long as the patient gets enough oxygen.

[kleim]

"Water in an of itself won't hurt lungs"

Yes it does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowning#Secondary_drowning

If you ever get saved from near drowning, you are still not safe.

[FreeFull]

I imagine you would have to use saline rather than plain water to avoid the lung cells bursting due to osmosis.