A new study found that a daily dose of aspirin could double the life expectancy of people with cancer of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract – mainly of the esophagus, rectum and colon. The study, conducted by scientists from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, analyzed data from 13,715 patients who were diagnosed with GI cancer between 1998 and 2000.
Researchers found that those who took low 80 to 100 mg doses of the anti-inflammatory pain medicine daily after their diagnosis were more than twice as likely to still be alive after four years when compared to those who did not take the drug.
The findings were consistent even after accounting for factors such as patients' gender, age, stage of cancer and other treatments.
"Medical research is focusing more and more on personalized medicine, but many personalized treatments are expensive and only useful in small populations," said lead author Martine Frouws from Lieden University Medical Center, according to Al Jazeera. "We believe that our research shows quite the opposite - it demonstrates the considerable benefit of a cheap, well-established and easily obtainable drug in a larger group of patients, while still targeting the treatment to a specific individual."
The team was able to show an association between aspirin use after a cancer diagnosis and overall survival by linking patient data with drug dispensing information from the PHARMO Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands, according to Tech Times.
"Now we would like to analyze tumor material from these patients to try and discover which ones would benefit from aspirin treatment," Frouws said, reports the Guardian.
"Through studying the characteristics of tumors in patients where aspirin was beneficial, we should be able to identify patients who could profit from such treatment in the future. Given that aspirin is a cheap, off-patent drug with relatively few side-effects, this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients."
