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Aspirin may lower the risk of Pancreatic
Cancer
April 5, 2011-- The use of aspirin at least
once per month is associated with a
significant decrease in pancreatic cancer
risk, according to results of a large
case-control study presented at the AACR
102nd Annual Meeting 2011, held here April
2-6.
Xiang-Lin Tan, Ph.D., M.D., a research
fellow at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.,
said the findings from this large
collaborative study are preliminary and do
not encourage widespread use of aspirin for
this purpose.
“The results are not meant to suggest
everyone should start taking aspirin once
monthly to reduce their risk of pancreatic
cancer,” said Tan. “Individuals should
discuss use of aspirin with their physicians
because the drug carries some side effects.”
For the current study, Tan and colleagues
enrolled 904 patients who had documented
pancreatic cancer and compared them with
1,224 healthy patients. All patients were at
least 55 years old and reported their use of
aspirin, NSAIDs and acetaminophen by
questionnaire.
Results showed that people who took aspirin
at least one day during a month had a 26
percent decreased risk of pancreatic cancer
compared to those who did not take aspirin
regularly. The effect was also found for
those who took low-dose aspirin for heart
disease prevention at 35 percent lower risk,
according to Tan.
The researchers did not see a benefit from
non-aspirin NSAIDs or acetaminophen. “This
provides additional evidence that aspirin
may have chemoprevention activity against
pancreatic cancer,” said Tan. He added that
more data must be gathered before we can
prove a real benefit.
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