Aspirin Can Lead To A Lower Risk Of Death from Prostate Cancer

After a careful observation was conducted at the Harvard Medical School, Boston, doctors have come to the conclusion that aspirin can lead to a lower risk of death from prostate cancer. But one has to keep in mind that this is just a mere observation, it is not the conclusion of a clinical study. This type of observational study cannot draw a direct line between cause and effect, it simply correlates the results.

The risk reduction was about 40% in patients that have already been diagnosed with cancer. Aspirin does not lower the odds of contracting prostate cancer, it just lowers the chances that the disease will evolve to a more lethal stage when cancer propagates itself within the body, affecting other organs.

The reason why aspirin would have this effect on cancer is speculated to be one of the medicine’s side effects. Aspirin can sometimes cause bleeding due to its ability to suppress platelets within the patient’s blood stream. These platelets could be used by cancer cells to shield themselves from the body’s immune system. By removing this element, the system can directly attack cancerous cells, stopping the disease’s progression through the patient’s body.

This study was made after observing 20.000 adult men, starting with the year of 1982. Initially, this study was made in order to see the effects of beta-carotene and aspirin on heart diseases and cancer. The alleged fact that aspirin lowers the risk of lethal prostate cancer can be considered as a derivation from the original study. From the total number of people involved, over 3,000 developed prostate cancer, with 400 of them eventually suffering from the lethal version of this disease.

If people that have been diagnosed with prostate cancer want to take the option of being administered aspirin on a regular basis, they should first consult with their doctor in order to better understand the side effects of this treatment. This is especially important due to the fact that this treatment can be described as a form of allegation instead of a real conclusive fact. But this will be deemed viable for patients that are already taking aspirin in order to benefit from its cardiovascular effects.

If clinical trials involving the use of aspirin and a placebo leads to conclusive results, it might bring hope to prostate cancer patients that do not benefit from hormone therapy. Through the entry of cancerous cells into the bloodstream, from solid cancer tumors, the cells become variable, counteracting the effects of hormone therapy almost completely. Patients that have circulating cancer cells have a much shorter lifespan in comparison to normal prostate cancer patients.

But there is still hope because a new form of cancer analysis has surfaced in the form of liquid biopsy. Blood samples are taken from the patient and analyzed by a computer software. If the analysis proves that the patient is suffering from circulating cancer cells, hormone treatments are no longer administered due to the fact that they still produce side-effects without granting any benefits towards fighting cancer.

The general public has to exercise patience before the claim that aspirin can lead to a lower risk of death from prostate cancer is proven or disproven. Most likely, clinical trials and tests revolving around this matter will start in the near future.

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