Cancer patients could triple survival rate with painkillers, study finds



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A new study suggests that people with cancer of the head and neck could more than triple their chances of survival by simply taking ordinary painkillers.

Common and inexpensive pain relievers, such as ibuprofen and aspirin, increased survival rates from 25% to 78% if the cancer contained a specific gene, present in about one-third of all cancers. head and neck.

Head and neck cancers are diagnosed in approximately 12,000 people in Britain – and kill another 4,000 – every year.


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Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco examined patient survival rates five years after diagnosis.

They found that regular use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) had a dramatic impact on about one-third of people with cancer.

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Taking aspirin has also avoided 232 cases in colorectal and oesophageal cancer research in Queensland – but since it can also cause strokes, it has not yet been recommended as a formal treatment for cancer. cancer risk.


1/13

Stop smoking. This notoriously difficult habit to break sees the accumulation of tar in the lungs and the alteration of DNA and causes 15,558 cancer deaths

2/13

Avoiding the sun and melanoma badociated with overexposure to harmful UV rays, could help conscientious shade-goers to dodge the fact of being one of the 7,220 people who die from it

3/13

According to one study, a diet low in red meat can help prevent bowel cancer – 30 grams a day are recommended for men and 25 a day for women.

4/13

Fiber-rich foods can contribute to healthy intestines. Processed foods in developed countries seem to cause higher rates of colon cancer than those in European countries such as Africa, where beans and impulses are high


5/13

Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day were given as a magic number for good nutrition as part of the research. Overall, diet causes only slightly fewer cancer deaths than sun exposure in Australia (7,000 per year)

6/13

Overweight and obesity, related to poor diet and lack of physical exercise, cause 3,917 cancer deaths per year

Getty

7/13

Dying from cancer caused by infection is also an important factor, linked to 3,421 cancer deaths each year. Infections such as human papillomavirus – which can cause cervical cancer in women – and hepatitis – can be prevented by vaccination and regular checkups

8/13

Reduced consumption may reduce the risk of alcohol-related cancers, such as liver cancer, bowel cancer, bad cancer and oral cancer, resulting in 3,208 deaths per year.

2014 Getty Images


9/13

Sitting without moving your heart – less than an hour of exercise a day – leads to about 1,800 people to have lower immune functions and higher hormone levels, among other factors, which cause cancer.

2011 Getty Images

10/13

Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve menopausal symptoms in women, caused 539 cancer deaths (mostly bad cancer) in Australia last year. However, he prevented 52 cases of colorectal cancer

2003 Getty Images

11/13

Oddly enough, badfeeding is insufficient in the top 10. Breastfeeding for 12 months could prevent 235 cancer cases a year, according to research.

AFP / Getty Images

12/13

Oral contraceptives, like the pill, caused about 105 bad cancers and 52 cervical cancers – but they also prevented about 1,440 ovarian and uterine cancers ( uterus) last year.

2006 Getty Images


13/13

Taking aspirin has also avoided 232 cases in colorectal and oesophageal cancer research in Queensland – but since it can also cause strokes, it has not yet been recommended as a formal treatment for cancer. cancer risk.

All participants in the study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, who saw this marked increase in survival rates had the mutated PIK3CA gene.

For those whose gene had not been altered in the tumor, the taking of pain relievers had no effect.

NSAIDs are a clbad of drugs that not only reduce pain, but can also reduce inflammation. Aspirin and ibuprofen are the most common varieties. The other popular painkiller, paracetamol, acts according to a different process and is not clbadified as an NSAID.

Jennifer Grandis, professor of head and neck surgery and lead author of the article, said, "Our findings suggest that the use of NSAIDs could significantly improve outcomes for patients with dementia." 39, a head and neck cancer, but also for patients with other cancers contained the PIK3CA mutation.

"The magnitude of the apparent benefit is strong and could potentially have a positive impact on human health."

The researchers examined 266 patients at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center whose tumors were removed surgically.

Among patients who used NSAIDs regularly, 93% used aspirin at one time. Most regular users only started taking this medication after their cancer diagnosis.


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The authors of the study suggested that these drugs could block the growth of tumors of the head and neck by reducing the production of an inflammatory molecule called prostaglandin E2.

Professor Justin Stebbing, professor of cancer research and medical oncology at the IHRH at Imperial College London, said: "We know that inflammation is really important in cancer and can be used as part of the process of spreading and growing cancer cells.

"Studies on tumors of the colon, bad and other tumors have shown that anti-inflammatory drugs may be useful in patients with cancers that carry certain mutations.

"This study on head and neck cancer goes further in this knowledge through anti-inflammatory drugs acting on two enzymes: COX and PI3K proteins."


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Prof Stebbing said more work is needed to understand if doctors should start telling cancer patients to take NSAIDs, and how often and at what dose.

A clinical trial to replicate the results of the study is being designed.

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