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London, September 30 (PTI) Taking aspirin can improve the survival of cancer patients and reduce the risk of contracting the disease for other parts of the body, scientists said.
The researchers analyzed 71 medical studies looking at the survival of 120,000 cancer patients taking aspirin, compared with 400,000 untreated patients.
They showed that at any time after the diagnosis of certain cancers, the proportion of patients still alive was 20 to 30% higher among those who took the drug.
The spread of cancer to other parts of the body has also been significantly reduced in patients using aspirin.
"The use of low-dose aspirin as a preventative agent against heart disease, stroke and cancer is well established, but more and more evidence is showing that the drug could also play a valuable role as an additional cancer treatment, "said Peter Elwood, of Cardiff University. UK.
One of the colon cancer studies reviewed by the researchers suggests that a non-diabetic man of about 65 years of age who is taking aspirin would have a prognosis similar to that of a five-year-old man. years who does not take any.
For a woman of the same age with colon cancer, the addition of aspirin could result in a similar prognosis in a woman four years younger.
Nearly half of the studies included in the review involved patients with colon cancer and most other studies involved patients with breast or prostate cancer.
Very few studies have been conducted on patients with other less common cancers, but overall, the pooled data for all cancers suggest a benefit of aspirin.
The evidence is not entirely consistent and some of the studies have failed to detect the benefits attributable to aspirin, the researchers said.
There is therefore urgent need for more evidence and a number of new randomized trials have been put in place, but it is unlikely that they will be reported for several years.
This is published unedited PTI stream.
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