According to new study results published in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, taking aspirin daily is associated with a lower risk of death from prostate cancer, especially in men with high-risk disease who have been treated with either surgery or radiation.
Data from almost 6000 men from the Cancer of the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor (CaPSURE) database who had prostate cancer treated with surgery or radiotherapy were analyzed for the multicenter study. About 37% of the men involved were being treated with anticoagulants (warfarin, clopidogrel, enoxaparin, and/or aspirin). Researchers compared the risk of death from prostate cancer between those receiving anticoagulants and those who were not.
Study results showed that the 10-year mortality rate for prostate cancer was significantly lower in the group taking anticoagulants (3%), compared with the non-anticoagulant group (8%). Cancer recurrence and bone metastasis risks were also significantly lower. Upon further analysis, researchers discovered that this benefit was largely a result of taking aspirin, as opposed to the other types of anticoagulants.
“The results from this study suggest that aspirin prevents the growth of tumor cells in prostate cancer, especially in high-risk prostate cancer, for which we do not have a very good treatment currently,” said Dr Kevin Choe, assistant professor of radiation oncology at UT Southwestern and first author of the paper. “But we need to better understand the optimal use of aspirin before routinely recommending it to all prostate cancer patients.”
Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center.
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