A new study finds that the common over-the-counter medication Aspirin could significantly cut the risk of colorectal cancer coming back.
Researchers in Sweden say a low dose of aspirin was linked to reducing the recurrence in half for people with colon and rectal cancer whose tumors possessed a specific type of genetic mutation.
This is not the first time the popular painkiller has been linked to improved benefits related to colorectal cancer.
The Dallas Express previously reported on a study from Mass General Brigham that found that two aspirin a week could help reduce the risk of adults living unhealthy lifestyles from developing the disease. The new research, however, shows its potential ability to stave off its recurrence for those who have been diagnosed with the cancer in the past.
The latest findings come after researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital tracked more than 3,500 cancer patients in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland who underwent surgery to remove their tumors. Half of the individuals in the larger group that possessed a gene mutation in the PIK3 signalling pathway were given 160 milligrams of aspirin daily. The other half of this subgroup received a placebo.
After three years, the risk of cancer coming back was found to be 55% lower among the people who took the daily aspirin regimen.
“The ALASCCA trial shows for the first time in a randomized setting that low-dose aspirin significantly reduces recurrence in colorectal cancer patients with somatic PI3K pathway alterations,” study author Anna Martling, M.D., Ph.D., professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, and senior consultant surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital, said to Fox News Digital.
Martling says this applies to more than a third of all people who have had colorectal cancer tumors surgically removed. Martling also noted that the effect was more prominent in women.
“Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory and is involved with mitigating growth factors,” said Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst. “Numerous studies have shown that regular use of NSAIDs have decreased the risk of developing and dying from colon cancer.”