Daily Aspirin Shows ‘Huge Effect’ in Preventing Bowel Cancer Relapse, Study Confirms

A regular dose of this common painkiller can significantly cut the risk of specific bowel cancers recurring after surgery, based on a extensive trial into the beneficial effects of the common medication.

Swedish researchers found that people who consumed a modest everyday amount of aspirin after having tumour removal were 50% less likely to experience a cancer recurrence over the following three years than those who were given a placebo.

The study involved individuals with cancer whose cancers possessed certain gene changes that made them sensitive to its tumor-inhibiting effects. Roughly two-fifths of bowel cancer individuals display similar alterations.

“I think this could transform treatment protocols,” stated one expert. “In cases involving such genetic profiles, the probability of the disease returning was lowered by above a significant margin. It is a huge effect.”

Close to two million patients are found to have bowel cancer each year globally, with over 40,000 instances in the United Kingdom. Many have tumor surgery, but in spite of advances in chemo, radiotherapy and operations, the malignancy can recur if cancerous tissue are left behind.

Rates of intestinal cancer are increasing across the globe in adults below 50, and while the causes are unclear, researchers theorize that processed food, being overweight, a lack of physical activity and harmful substances generated by digestive flora are involved.

Prior research have indicated that aspirin can help prevent bowel cancer in people who are at elevated risk due to inherited syndromes such as an inherited mutation. However, it was unclear whether the drug decreased the chances of cancer returning after treatment.

Scientists recruited more than three thousand five hundred individuals who had received intestinal cancer removal at medical centers across several countries. DNA tests on a large group of the subjects found 1,103, or a substantial proportion, had changes in genes that form a biological mechanism referred to as PI3K, which is associated in the disease.

The patients with the mutations were divided to receive either 160mg of medication per day or a inactive pill for three years after treatment. Those on the active drug were 55% less likely to have the disease recur than those on the inactive treatment, the research showed.

The treatment appears to shield against the disease by dampening immune response, interfering with the specific mechanism, and limiting the behavior of platelets, which can encase cancer cells and thereby hide them from the individual’s natural protection.

Researchers emphasized the need to perform molecular screening on every bowel cancers so that people who may gain from the treatment could be given the therapy. “It’s a common treatment that is extremely low-cost,” they noted.

Aspirin has been on the market for longer than a hundred years, but consuming the drug long-term still carries dangers. In the study, four participants experienced “significant side effects” possibly linked to the treatment, including allergic reaction, gastrointestinal bleeding and brain hemorrhage. A few participants died across both sides of the study, with one loss possibly caused by aspirin.

A research director commented: “Stopping cancer cases preserves life, and identifying innovative methods to achieve this is key to ongoing work to overcome the disease. There is growing evidence that in certain groups of patients, modest-dose the drug can provide defense from intestinal cancer.”

“There is a need for bigger, rigorous trials to verify which patients would benefit the most from using this drug to help them have better outcomes, better lives, free from the concern of cancer.”