The fifth leading cancer responsible for most women deaths is Ovarian Cancer, much to its being detected in later stages. According to two new studies, it is revealed that a daily low dose of aspirin can help prevent ovarian cancer. Dr. Mitchell Kramer, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwell Health’s Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y. commends these researches by asserting that a daily low dose of 81 mg aspirin can serve to be more than an ounce of prevention for women both with and without ovarian cancer.
Researchers, from U.S. National cancer institute and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., claim that inflammation has a role in developing cancer and can aggravate cancer outcomes. Aspirin and NSAIDs (non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) have been already proved to lower certain types of cancer, especially colon cancer. Now, aspirin has been found to cause 10% reduction in the development of ovarian cancer if a low dose is taken daily. It also pertained to 30% improvement in survival capacity for patients undergoing ovarian cancer. The data is pooled from thirteen studies including 750,000 women who were questioned regarding the use of aspirin as well as NSAIDs and tracked for the development of ovarian cancer. 3500 of these women did develop ovarian cancer.
According to Shelley Tworoger, from Moffit Cancer Centre, the study provides a new perspective on the use of aspirin and NSAIDs for cancer-related treatment as it included three-quarter of a million women who were continuously tracked for multiple decades; the study shows effective reduction in the risk of developing ovarian cancer but more studies will be conducted before finalizing the recommendation for daily intake of aspirin.
Another study by the researchers from the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and Moffitt Cancer Center gathered data on 1,000 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer from Nurses’ Health Studies. It was found that a 30% improvement in survival was experienced by patients using aspirin and NSAIDs after diagnosis.
Both these studies are based on observational data hence it does not pertain to a cause and effect relationship. However, evidence for an effect is prominent, according to Dr. Adi Davidov, Director of Gynecology, Staten Island University Hospital, N.Y. Aspirin has fewer side effects which are relatively well-tolerated and is an anti-inflammatory, hence according to Kramer, the use of aspirin for this baneful disease is a sensible approach.
Hopefully, more researches will confirm the beneficial results which were termed as intriguing by Davidov.