Aspirin keeps cancer at bay

Three new studies add to growing scientific evidence suggesting that taking a daily dose of aspirin can help prevent, and possibly treat, cancer. Previous studies have found that daily aspirin reduces the long-term risk of death due to cancer, but until now the shorter-term effects have been less certain — as has the medicine’s potential in patients already diagnosed with cancer. The new studies, led by Peter Rothwell of Britain’s Oxford University, found that aspirin also has a short-term benefit in preventing cancer, and that it reduces the likelihood that cancers will spread to other organs by about 40 to 50 per cent. “These findings add to the case for use of aspirin to prevent cancer, particularly if people are at increased risk,” Rothwell said. “Perhaps more importantly, they also raise the distinct possibility that aspirin will be effective as an additional treatment for cancer — to prevent distant spread of the disease.” This was particularly important because it is the process of spread of cancer, or “metastasis”, which most often kills people with the disease, he added.