Baby Aspirin for Baby Aspirin for Colon Cancer Colon Cancer Prevention?Prevention?

Baby Aspirin for Baby Aspirin for Colon Cancer Colon Cancer Prevention?Prevention?

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• The same baby aspirin some people take to forestall heart trouble may also be a hedge against colon cancer. Scientists have observed for a while that aspirin takers seem to have a lower risk for developing cancers and polyps of the colon. Now, research coordinated by scientists at Dartmouth Medical School has taken the investigation to the next level- and found additional evidence to support the idea.

• The investigators gave either baby aspirin, full-size aspirin, or placebo pills to some 1,100 people with a history of adenomas-benign tumors in the colon lining that sometimes turn into malignant ones. After 3 years of follow-up, the rate of adenoma recurrence was lower in those taking baby aspirin than in those taking placebo- a reduced risk, the scientists calculated, of almost 20 percent.

• Oddly, the full-size aspirin didn’t seem to work as well reducing tumor-recurrence risk by just 4 percent. Why? “I wish I knew! This is something I can’t explain,” says lead researcher John Baron, MD. Adds Joel Mason, MD, a Tufts colon cancer researcher who commented on the study, “that was a bit of a surprise. But arriving at the right dose is an important learning process.”

• As for how aspirin might be protective, Dr. Mason says that “it interferes with the process of inflammation, some of which are shared with carcinogenesis.”

• The results give anyone who’s already taking aspirin for heart health added reason to continue. But while promising they don’t mean that anyone should start taking aspirin for cancer prevention purposes without consulting a doctor first. “I think there probably is a large enough body of evidence now to suggest there may be a benefit,” says Dr. Mason. “But that’s tempered by side effects. Even baby aspirin presents a risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.” Adds Dartmouth’s Dr. Baron, “it looks like aspirin would have to be taken for 10 to 20 years before a significant effect kicks in. That’s a lot of time for bleeds to develop.”