- Study looked at effects of daily pill on 23,000 cancer patients from Norway
- Regularly taking the drug found to reduce mortality by between 15-25%
- Experts believe the cheap medication can stop disease from returning
- But aspirin can cause bleeding in the brain and stomach, experts warn
Kate Pickles For Mailonline
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It’s long been touted as a wonder drug which can cure headaches and protect against heart attacks.
Now doctors say taking aspirin can increase the chances of surviving prostate cancer by up to a quarter.
Researchers based their findings on figures from the Norwegian Cancer Registry and the Norwegian Prescription Database.
More than 23,000 people from all over the country were included in the first study to examine the effect of aspirin on bowel cancer patients.
Doctors say taking aspirin can increase the chances of surviving prostate cancer by up to a quarter
In Norway, low-dose aspirin is available only by prescription, at doses of 75 milligrams (mg) or 160 mg a day.
It is usually prescribed for lowering the risks of heart disease and stroke.
They all took the cheap medication after having been treated for the disease.
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The investigation found regularly taking low doses of the drug could reduce mortality among colon cancer patients by between 15 to 25 per cent.
Kjetil Taskén, professor at the Faculty of Medicine who took part, said it has the potential of helping thousands of patients a year.
Taking a daily aspirin was also found to reduce the chances of the cancer returning
‘This is an interesting finding, because aspirin is a cheap with few adverse effects,’ he said.
‘The finding may therefore have a potential benefit for the approximately 4000 patients who are diagnosed with colon cancer each year.’
Previous studies found aspirin can stop cancer from forming in the intestine.
But whether aspirin should be taken as a preventative measures is widely debated as it can cause bleeding in the stomach and brain.
Patients with the disease are advised not to start taking the drug without consulting a doctor first.
The latest research also considered whether the drug could be used to prevent a relapse in patients who have been treated for bowel cancer.
‘Because the patients’ immune system can mobilize anti-tumour immunity only after exposure to cancer cells, and because this anti-tumour immunity is inhibited by prostaglandin, our hypothesis was that the effect of aspirin was perhaps even greater after someone had suffered from cancer.
‘In other words, that cancer can be prevented from re-occurring in the patient,’ Taskén explains.
‘Moreover, the cost-benefit assessment will completely change, because the risk of a relapse is much higher than the risk of initial onset of cancer,’ he said.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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