Aspirin and Survival

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Aspirin and Survival

Posted 6/4/2011

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I have written before about the possibility that daily aspirin may increase survival rates in women after breast cancer. For me, the really lovely thing about this concept is that it is something we can easily do for ourselves, and aspirin already has known benefits in other health areas. Obviously, this is an "ask your doctor about it" topic because there are some people who, for other medical reasons, should not be taking a daily aspirin.

Here is the beginning of an article from Projects in Knowledge and then a link to read more:

Aspirin Intake and Survival After Breast Cancer

Medical Writer: William Yarnall, RPh, CCP Expert Faculty: Lisa A. Carey, MD, ScM

Clinical Insights

• Aspirin use post-breast cancer diagnosis may prolong life and reduce the risk of distant recurrence in some breast cancer patients.

• Randomized, controlled trials are needed to confirm the beneficial effect of aspirin and NSAIDs in reducing morbidity and mortality in breast cancer patients.

In vitro studies have shown that breast cancer cells produce more prostaglandins than normal cells, and animal studies have demonstrated increased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity in metastatic breast cancer. Aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are prostaglandin and COX inhibitors and are also known to augment immune responsiveness and suppress cytokines that stimulate bony metastases. Therefore, it has been suggested that these drugs may increase survival among women with breast cancer by decreasing the growth and invasiveness of breast cancer cells. In order to investigate the possibility that aspirin use post-diagnosis might be associated with decreased risk of breast cancer death and distant recurrence, this was examined among the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) subjects that developed stage I-III breast cancer.