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Cancer researchers Prolonged aspirin intake doubled survival in colorectal cancer
Regularly taking a low dose of aspirin can significantly increase the average survival of colorectal cancer. This was the result of a study by Dutch researchers, which has now been presented at the European Cancer Congress. The active ingredient could in the future belong to the accompanying therapy.
Early detection of colon cancer can save lives
In Germany alone, around 26,000 people die each year from colon cancer. If this cancer is detected early, it can be cured. The colorectal cancer screening can save lives, but nevertheless this precautionary option is too rarely perceived. After diagnosis, as in other cancers, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are usually the consequences. However, a widely used drug apparently also contributes to therapy: aspirin. This was reported by researchers from the Netherlands.
Aspirin increases survival in colorectal cancer patients. (Image: Africa Studio / fotolia.com) Regular intake of a low aspirin dose
Thus, regular ingestion of a low dose of aspirin (ASAA) after diagnosis of carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract may almost double the five-year survival rate. This has resulted in a Dutch study with just under 14,000 patients. The results were recently presented at the European Cancer Congress in Vienna. Martine Frouws of Leiden University told APA, "Aspirin came on the market in 1897 as a painkiller. In the 1980s, in studies, the infarct and stroke preventing effects. As a result, the protective effect of cancer was also noted in these scientific papers. It is already proven in colorectal cancer. "The scientists now examined the effect on all carcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract.
ASA for the prevention of heart attack and stroke
Data from 13,715 patients who had been diagnosed with the disease between 1998 and 2011 in the Netherlands were evaluated for the study. "We then linked the drug prescriptions with the disease data," explained the study author. It was about the use of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid (80 to a hundred milligrams daily), as prescribed, inter alia, for the prevention of heart attack and stroke by doctors. 30.5 percent of the patients had taken ASA before the diagnosis of cancer, 8.3 percent started after, while 61.1 percent did not take aspirin. The researchers reported that the most common diagnoses involved the large intestine (42.8 percent), the rectum (25.4 percent) and the esophagus (10.2 percent). Patients who were taking aspirin before the diagnosis were not included in the figures because it was all about the protective effect after the disease was diagnosed. The average observation time was 48.6 months.
ASA for the accompanying routine therapy
The results were described as "striking". "Carcinoma patients who started taking aspirin after diagnosis had a five-year survival rate of 75 percent." Without aspirin, the five-year survival rate of patients with the disease was 42 percent, the scientist said , Although the results indicate a strong effect of acetylsalicylic acid on such patients, they are not sufficient for final scientific proof. However, in the Netherlands another study has now been launched whereby patients with colorectal or rectal carcinomas are randomly assigned to a group with or on the basis of ASA, Frouws said. This will soon make it clear whether ASA should be part of the accompanying routine therapy for these cancer patients in the future.
Protective effect of ASA proven
In recent years, potentially lower aspirin cancer risk has been explored at numerous facilities worldwide. Among other things, a primary protective effect of ASA was demonstrated before the first appearance of colorectal cancer. This was mainly attributed to the anti-inflammatory effect of the substance. David Agus, a professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles and author of numerous books, also cited this effect in the past. In his opinion, aspirin is supposed to protect against cancer when it is regularly dosed low and taken with a cholesterol inhibitor. However, this recommendation met with much criticism and widespread prevention with such drugs was strongly discouraged.
Positive effects due to anticoagulant effect
Since the Dutch study participants were people who had received the means to prevent cardiovascular events, they must have a different mechanism of action. The scientists believe that the positive effect of aspirin in cancer is due to its anticoagulant effect, the so-called anti-platelet effect. Platelets have the function of stopping bleeding by clumping and clogging the vessel. It is believed that circulating tumor cells hide from surrounding immune cells against platelets. Aspirin inhibits platelet function and thus destroys the protection of tumor cells from being detected by the immune system. (Ad)